The Dark Conquerors
by TheBlackSwallow
Summary: 3 unsuspecting people led to their fate by uncontrollable circumstances. They have the power to change the world…and to destroy it. Watch their story unfold as they battle the twists and turns of life and face their inevitable destiny.
1. Prologue The Start Of A Legend

**PROLOGUE**

**~ The Start Of A Legend~**

In the middle of nowhere where inhabitants can not be found for miles. In the dark and cold night there he stood. A man who had his eyes closed which made him look as if he was almost asleep. It looked as if he was in a deep trance and no one would wish to wake him up from it. If anyone were to pass by and watch him then that person who pass by will notice that he won't move.. not even an inch.

Time passed and later on the silence was broken. It was broken by that man's sinister laugh. He then laughed for a long time and didn't seem to stop. He finally finished laughing and ended with a smile that one would remember, a smile that would belong to a person as if he was up to no good. This smile would be the one that sends chills down your spine. Before you could even collect yourself he then spoke. He spoke these words to no one. He uttered "The world will finally be corrected. Its faith is sealed, for perfection must be attained even if it means the lost of lives"

There a prophecy was made. Some may say that it was a complete farce. That such a thing couldn't exist. In truth no matter how much they try to deny, they still can not hide this fact that this prophecy may come true. A prophecy that will change the world if not destroy it, itself.

The prophecy tells of three powerful people. These people, chosen before birth, possess incredible strength and powers given to them by the underworld, each one with their own special power to behold. They will be called by the names of The Silent Nightingale, Black Swallow and Fallen Raven which will be feared whenever they shall be heard. To those who shall stand in their way shall be perished. Their existence of who dare go against them is of no use to them.

Until the time has come for them they will live as normal people. Hidden in the public where no one will ever suspect such treachery from them. Their future and faith hidden in their subconscious ready to be awaken one day, to be realized.

After being reawakened they shall come and lead the world together, with their combined powers they shall attain the earth at their fingertips. They will make a new world fitting for a new reign and kingdom.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter I

Fresh Blood

Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice, Digimon and Shaman King. I'm a poor drawer I can assure you of that

_Author's Note: Hi there people here is chapter 1. I'm sorry if it's not good. Please Read and Review and even some suggestions if you want. Credits to Absenceofsound for the title._

* * *

There it was. This place, surrounded by towering gates, proved to be a spectacle for those who passed. What catches the interest though is what is behind the gates. Hidden from the public eye many rumors are brought up about this school. Crazy rumors that people would think only fools would believe in and rumors that are down right true. In the end there is only one thing they know about this academy. That it is an academy for children with special gifts. Special gifts that are too unbelievable to be true. The problem though is that the government treasures these gifts. They even built a school for them to be kept in and this is where Gakuen Alice is introduced. Gakuen Alice is the academy which I am seeing right in front of me, the place where we are going to and will be our home for the next few years.

These were the thoughts that passed through Tai Chi's head as he and his friends were driving towards the academy. Tai Chi always wondered how did this happen. He and his friends were dragged to this school without much of a choice. After using his so called powers for good, people decided to bring him to this school where there is practically nothing heard about it. What bothers him most is that he can't even leave this academy until he graduated. Why should he be forced to reside here for many years when all he does is to make Agumon appear and make him evolve? How is it that not only him but his friends all have this special "alice"? What are the chances that we all had the exact same kind?

"Big brother?" said Hikari which interrupted Tai Chi's thoughts. In truth Hikari was worried for her brother and the silence was just too much that she needed to break it. In fact not only her brother but his friends too were all too quiet.

"Yes, Hikari" he replied

"I'm worried big brother…the elementary and middle school may have a lot of activities together and isn't far from each other but what will happen when you go to high school?" said Hikari with worry clearly heard in her voice

Just as Tai Chi was about to reply Yamato said "Don't worry Hikari you can always come to visit us in the high school building and besides my brother is there with you remember"

"Yeah! I will! Don't worry" said Takeru and then he smiled the usual smile he always wears which made Hikari smile and she tried to hide a blush.

There everyone except for Takeru knew what was up with Hikari. Tai Chi and Yamato were smiling teasing smiles when Sora hit both of them on the heads.

"Seriously…You guys are just jerks" said Sora "It's annoying to be the only girl among the 3 of us" Shaking at the clueless and tactless boys before her who now have huge lumps on their heads.

You see Mimi, Joe and Koushiro weren't with us. Mimi was in the states. Joe who was older so he went abroad to study and Koushiro, being the smart genius as is, was needed to be abroad too. It was lucky for them that they weren't trapped in this academy like us. I really do miss them though thought Sora and a frown was slowly forming.

Before Tai Chi and Yamato were able to reply they were already parked and the door opened for them. All of them took a deep breath and stepped out.

* * *

"I hated this feeling of being dragged. I couldn't afford to be here right now. My friends and family are still back home" thought a boy named Yoh. "I bet if Anna was there when they got me she would have scared them away.. Oh well". He then sighed.

Yoh was accompanied with two escorts and they were walking to a certain meet up point. Apparently he wasn't the only new student. He heard there were a lot this year since they decided to do extensive searches on weird instances. The only reason why Yoh did go right away is that if he stayed any longer they would have found about his friends. The academy would then start searching for every shaman and he wouldn't just let that happen. There Yoh felt cold and scared knowing his friends' and Anna's expression when they will find out he's gone. They might even go for a full out search scale. It won't be pretty if they try to bust him out of there.

He heard the sound of chattering come up as he saw a group of 8 people up ahead. From the way he looked at it, it seems that some of them must have known each other already. There he sighed and got ready to join the other new students. He might as well because he knew that he would be with them for a long time.

* * *

"Hi there class!!" said the all so cheerful teacher Narumi "Since it's a new school year I guess everybody should know that we have 7 new classmates. Come on everyone let's greet them" Sadly although with his enthusiasm only one person was truly excited.

"I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THEM!!!!" shouted a pigtailed brunette known as Mikan. She was standing up and had eyes that were sparkling with excitement causing sweat drops for the class and irritation to a certain raven colored hair boy who was trying to sleep.

The raven colored hair boy named Natsume grabbed Mikan's arm and forcibly brought her down to sit in a fluid action. "OUCH! That hurt you jerk!!" shouted MIkan.

"Well I wouldn't have done that if you shut up idiot!!!" shouted Natsume in reply. There a "death glare" battle started and not too long an exchange of name calling. All the class could do was sigh. This was expected since they have done it ever since elementary. Now they were in middle school at the age of 13. They were currently in 7th grade and they were at it since 5th. You think that they would stop fighting since they already knew their feelings for each other after all. The thing is everyone knows that the day they end up being nice to each other would be the day when something terribly wrong happened.

*Cough* interrupted Narumi to try to get back to his original topic. "Well anyway if you guys aren't busy let's introduce the new students!" he said cheerfully

There the door opened revealing 7 students. It shocked them though because 7 was a really big number to get new students. They were used to only getting 1 at a time although this on the other hand was able to explain why there were more benches placed in the classroom. After a loud eruption of noise coming from the class, they finally settled down after all of them stood and settled at the front. There they observed all of those who stood in front of them.

* * *

_Sorry but I'm leaving it to that. I realized how much I wrote. My bad.. Hope you enjoy it! Please review!!_


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**The Who And What**

**Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who read my story. I hope you enjoy it. Please review!**

**Diclaimer: I don't own Gakuen Alice, Digimon or Shaman King. That would be clearly impossible.**

There they were, All 7 of them. They stood in front of the class in a straight line returning the looks of curiosity the majority of the class gave them. The group was composed of 3 boys and 4 girls. One of the boys had brown spiky hair and had these ridiculous orange earphones placed on his head but not covering his ears. He seemed pleasant yet looked too laid back. The other boy also had brown spiky hair and gave off the same feeling of pleasantness. The boy next to him had dark blonde hair. He carried a serious face and gave off a not as friendly feeling as the other two. The girl next to him had ginger colored hair. She was smiling and her eyes gave off that warm feeling. She looked and smiled at the brown haired boy and the blonde one showing that they must have been close friends or something like that.

The other 3 girls seemed like they were isolated and huddled together. All of them had brown colored hair but were cut and fixed differently. One of them had shoulder length wavy hair. She wore oval shaped glasses. She tried to smile as best as she could. The other girl had her hair shoulder length too. Her eyes scanned the room with interest. The last girl had straight long hair passing her shoulders. Her eyes seemed to be staring into space and lost. She just had neutral feeling coming from her.

While the 3 boys and the gingered haired girl were all standing straight and confident, you can tell the other three girls were nervous. The interesting part was that the girl with straight long hair suddenly looked pale. Before anyone could speculate more things about these people Mr. Narumi spoke up.

"Well everyone I hope you guys can be acquainted with all of the new students." He said "Oh and no one please try not to let them get killed by sending them to some stupid dare" he shot a meaningful look towards a certain flame caster. "So I decided that making all of them have partners each would be a hassle so I decided to pick just around four people to help them instead and I decided that it will be Hotaru, Mikan, Natsume and Ruka. Well BYE!" he said hurriedly and went outside the classroom before anyone could retort back.

After Mr. Narumi left the class went to its normal chaos and noisiness

There, all the new students sweat dropped. When all of a sudden a certain brunette jumped out of nowhere which shocked them all.

"Hello there!!! I'm Mikan! What's your name?!?!" said Mikan happily and flashing them her smile which admittedly could brighten or annoy any person's day.

"Oh hi there" said the boy with the ear phones. "My name is Yoh"

"I'm Tai Chi" said the other spiky brown haired boy "That's Yamato" pointing to the other boy "and that's Sora" pointing to the red head girl.

"What about you guys?!?!" said Mikan to the three girls.

Just when the girl with glasses was about to say something the girl with long hair saw someone flying and fainted.

"OH NO!!" screamed out the girl with glasses.

The other girl on the other hand was trying her best to relax. She then faced Mikan who was also freaking out. The girl tried to remain as calm as possible and introduced herself.

"H-hi…My name is Hitomi..and uh that girl with glasses is named Chihiro and.. the girl who just fainted is named Meruka" said Hitomi.

"What the heck HITOMI!!" shouted Chihiro "She's fainted and you're making friends!!!"

"I'm trying to calm them down!!!" shouted Hitomi

"Will you quit shouting at me?!?!?" shouted Chihiro "I'm right here!!"

"I'll stop shouting when you will!!" shouted Hitomi

"Will the two of you shut up!!" said a raven haired girl who had violet colored eyes. "How am I supposed to invent with the two of you shouting?? Besides, instead of shouting how about carrying your friend who is still lying down on the floor if you haven't forgotten?"

That's when it hit Hitomi and Chihiro. The both looked at their fainted friend and sheepishly said sorry to each other.

"Oh by the way" said Chihiro happily "What's your name?" There Chihiro waited for her reply but it didn't come.

"HEY! I believe she was talking about you!!!" shouted Hitomi who obviously was a little hot tempered.

"Oh guys don't worry.. Her name is Hotaru" said Mikan "She's always like that"

"Well she has a bad attitude" said Hitomi angrily "I think she's annoying and…." **BAKA BAKA **At the moment Hotaru hit her with a baka gun.

"Uh oh" said Yoh who even though doesn't know Hitomi well knows very well what would happen. There Mikan, Chihiro, Yoh, Tai Chi, Sora and Yamato backed away. In fact the whole class fell silent. There they waited for two seconds before it sunk in. Then a volcano exploded.

"WHY YOU!!! Hitomi screamed

Just before Hitomi could march off to Hotaru and strangle her someone hit her on the already bruised head.

"Not only did you NOT carry me to the infirmary but I woke up to you breaking my ear drums with you LOUD voice!!" shouted a very irritated looking Meruka. She gave off this aura that sent chills down everyone's spine (well except for Hotaru and a certain raven haired boy)

"I knew we were forgetting something" mumbled Chihiro

After a long period of apologizing, Meruka finally forgave them but just sat down and kept quiet.

"I wonder if she'll forgive you" said Sora

"Oh don't worry about it" said Mikan "Hotaru and I always fight like that but we always end up still friends. Right Hotaru?!" Mikan was about to hug Hotaru when Hotaru shot her with the baka gun.

"Uh huh.." said Tai Chi sarcastically "I can umm.. definitely see that"

"Will you quit being so mean??!!" Said Sora flicking his head

"Oh come one guys!" said Yamato "Stop fighting"

Just then a certain raven haired boy bumped Tai Chi. This boy had crimson colored eyes and was accompanied with a blonde boy with blue eyes who was holding a rabbit.

"Hey!!!" said Tai Chi "Aren't you going to apologize??"

"Why should I??" said the raven haired boy "You were in my way"

"Hey!" said Yoh before Tai Chi could say anything "You don't need to be such a jerk!"

Suddenly before them a fire ball appeared in the raven haired boy's hand. This startled all of the new students. Before any of them could reply Mikan stood in between the raven haired boy and the new students.

"Geez Natsume!! Must you always try to put up a fight?" Mikan said talking to the raven haired boy "Can't we settle this in an orderly manner?" she suggested

"Humph!" said Natsume and the fire in his hand extinguished "Ruka! Let's go" he said to the blonde boy.

"You're not going to skip are you?" said Mikan

"Leave me alone will you?!?!" replied Natsume

He and Ruka left the classroom leaving a certain brunette pondering and worried. She was thinking when Yamato interrupted her thoughts.

"Who is that jerk??" asked Yamato irritably

"Oh" replied Mikan who just snapped out of her thoughts "That's just Natsume and the blonde boy is his friends, Ruka. I know what you're thinking. He might seem a jerk but he's really great when you get to know him and Ruka is really nice."

"So you're friends with him huh?" said Yoh

"Well.. umm.. yah" said Mikan. In truth she didn't know where she stood. She couldn't tell if she and Natsume were friends or something more. Before Mikan could clarify anything Hotaru spoke

"Actually Mikan likes Natsume more than a friend" Hotaru said bluntly

"HOTARU!!" shouted an angered Mikan who was red either because of anger or embarrassment

"What interest me though" said Tai Chi "is the fact he created that fire"

"Oh…Well that's his alice" said Mikan "Wait! I forgot to ask you guys. What are your alices?"

"Oh…. Well apparently my power has something to do with spirits" said Yoh "I can use the energy and strength of a certain spirit. It's new and rare according to them so they don't have a name" he continued.

He then thought "Well it's not that rare though. If they dug deeper they would find out the world is full of shamans"

"That is so cool!!" said Mikan excitedly "What about you guys??"

"Well we apparently have the same power" Sora explained "We can bring these digital monsters to life. These digital monsters, digimon in short each have their own special powers and strengths. Tai Chi, Yamato and I all have our own special digimon"

"Wow!!" said Mikan who was truthfully a little confused.

"Apparently it's a new and rare alice too" said Yamato

"Oh ok!" said Mikan "What about the three of you?"

"Oh we have the same alice too" said Hitomi "We all have the nullifying alice."

At that moment everyone silenced and Mikan's eyes widened.

"You have the nullification alice" asked Mikan tonelessly and her bangs were covering her eyes.

"Um…yeah?" answered Chihiro nervously

The next they knew they were gasping for air as Mikan hugged them as tight as she could.

"YAY!! WE'RE ALL THE SAME ALICE!!" she screamed and jumped for joy!! This of course caused everyone to… wait for it… sweat drop. "I can't wait!!! All of us could co things together and… oh! I could train you and then we can have club and…" **BAKA BAKA**

This certainly will turn out into some school year…Who knows what could happen?


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**Unaccustomed Routine**

**Author's Note: Here you go guys. Sorry it was late. I was busy with exams so here you go. I hope you enjoy it. I promise the story will get better though.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Gakuen Alice, Digimon or Shaman King**

Who could blame them for getting lost? I mean it was a pretty big campus. Scratch that, it was an enormous campus. You would be a fool if you didn't think it was huge.

Inside the big intimidating gates the campus had forests surrounding all of it. The forest spread from north, south, east and west. It even had forests between the 3 branches, the elementary, middle and high school buildings. Other than those the academy also had the other building such as the dorms, labs, gyms and many more structures. I mean come on! It even had a town right in the center thus it being named central town. People even had to take buses to go to the other parts of the campuses.

You can expect so much for the new students who came to the campus with no knowledge with only so little help. The only help they got actually was Mikan since after all the other three didn't bother to care. They didn't want any help from the oh so frustrating Natsume, Ruka always tagged along with the him and that would be useless too. Hotaru was always so distant and was no help since if they annoyed or disturbed her in any way, they would expect some lumps on their head from her infamous baka gun. They thanked Mikan and she was really a great help but to take care of 7 students all at once is a hassle. How could anyone be with all of them every time they needed help? It's not like she has a teleportation alice.

Knowing that she can't help all of them they had to struggle with the campus for some time. People like Tai Chi ended up running frantically saying he was going to be late when in the end he realized he went to a building which was all the way on the opposite side of the middle school building in the campus. Yamato was also angry because he had to search for his brother for a whole night because Hikari told him that Takeru went inside the forest and he didn't come back out. Little did Yamato know that when he was looking for Takeru, Takeru was already in his room. In the process Yamato was the one who ended up being lost in the forest and had to call for help to escape the forest.

Another incident was when Chihiro was looking for the library but ended getting lost. She lost hope when Yoh showed up. She was happy to find out he was going to the library too. To both of their dismay they both didn't know the way to the library. This ended up causing the rest of the new students, Mikan and Yuu to look for them because apparently both of them ended up in Central Town.

"Honestly!!" said Hitomi while she hit Chihiro's head "How in the world did you end up in Central Town?!?!"

Everyone was stressed out since they spent half of their free day looking for their friends to find them eating ice cream. They had to skip their lunch because they were worried about their friends so much and in the end they find them relaxed. It took a lot of time to hold down Hitomi and Mikan and keep them from strangling Chihiro and Yoh.

"Come on Guys!!!" pleaded Chihiro "How many times do we have to say Sorry before you forgive us??"

"Trust me" said Sora who was also in a bad mood "You have a looooooong way to go"

"O…kay" said Yoh in submission. He knew along with Chihiro that they wouldn't hear the end of this until who knows when.

* * *

~At the Canteen~

"FINALLY!!" shouted Mikan "FOOD!!!" she said with a hunger in her eyes

The new students sweat dropped to see their supposedly "role model" act in such a way.

"You know Mikan" said Tai Chi calmly "Just relax"

"But I'm hungry!!!" whined Mikan "We couldn't eat lunch because of the two idiots"

"We're not idiots!!" defended Chihiro "Right, Hitomi?"

"Are you seriously asking the person who gave you a lump on the head?" asked Hitomi

"Less Talking!! More Eating" interrupted Mikan who was clearly not in the mood to be stalled any longer.

Mikan sat down with her friends and invited the rest of the new students to eat with them.

"Hey there" said Nonoko and Anna with cheerful and friendly faces showing that they were excited to have more friends added to the table.

"Hey guys" said Mikan who was apparently trying to call over some other people. The new students wondered who it was and looked to where Mikan was looking at. To their surprise it was none other than Natsume and his friend Ruka. Tai Chi and Yamato weren't still over his rudeness and just looked at him.

Natsume looked at Mikan after hearing her calling them over. He scanned the table noticing the new students who were eyeing them. He didn't have to be a genius to know that they think badly of him.

"Hmph…Ruka, I'm not hungry I think I'm going to skip dinner." Natsume said once he finished his scan over the table.

"Uh…but Natsume…are you sure?" said Ruka with concern on his face

"Go ahead. Eat with them. I'm going to get some fresh air." said Natsume who didn't want his friend to be isolated from the group.

"No it's ok! I'm coming with you" said Ruka and with that they left the canteen.

"Huh? I wonder what all of that was about?" asked Mikan.

"Honestly Mikan. Why would you be friends with a guy like him?" asked Yamato

Mikan then giggled and smiled at the new students "I know he can be annoying at times but as a person told me before. Natsume can be cruel to his enemies but he really does his best to protect and help his friends."

Mikan then sat down and continued eating her food. The new students sat down then that's when they noticed something. They noticed that Hotaru's food was different than Mikan's. Hotaru's and Yuu's food looked bigger in comparison.

Hotaru noticing that the new students were looking at the food with confused faces then sighed. "Hey idiot" she addressed to Mikan "I think you forgot to explain to them about the star ranking"

"Oh yeah!" said Mikan who stopped eating

"Star Ranking??" asked Sora

"Well…You see this school ranks students by star systems" she replied knowingly "Our rooms, meals and allowances depend on our star ranking."

"So…how do they base the star ranking?" asked Yoh

"They base it on the grades, alice level, behavior and etc." replied Mikan who was starting to sound like a know it all.

"Ok…Miss know it all…Then what is our star ranking?" asked Hitomi

"Well…" said Mikan. Then silence just continued.

"How am I supposed to know??" Mikan exclaimed leaving them to sweat drop.

"Well considering that you are their guide" replied Hotaru who was still eating her food

"Well maybe if you helped me!!!" shouted Mikan

"Honestly Guys!" said Yuu trying to call Mikan down. "If we keep on fighting how will the new students know their star ranking?"

"Don't worry kids!" said Mr. Narumi

This surprised all of them. "Since when did he come?" Anna whispered to Yuu.

"You see kids we're still deciding you star rankings and it will be given to you tomorrow." continued Narumi who was clearly unfazed by the reactions of his students. "Well…See yah!" and walked away from them

"What a weird person" said Tai Chi

* * *

**The Next Day**

"Well class!!" said Mr. Kouji, the art teacher in alice academy. "Welcome to art. Here in this class we like to go with free expression. So go ahead paint something inspiring." He said leaving the class.

"Well…Now what to paint" thought Chihiro. She scanned the room and noticed that everyone was starting. To her surprise even Natsume was already putting paint on his palette

"Great…." She continued thinking "I have nothing" she looked at Yoh and checked his work. It seemed kinda creepy to her because it looked like some weird spirit ball. She needed help and then turned to someone for help "Psst…Meruka…Psst…" she called out

"Yeah?" Meruka replied not removing her sight from her drawing her painting.

"What should I paint??" asked Chihiro who was clearly lost

"Paint something that relaxes you" Maruka replied while erasing a part of her drawing.

"Something that relaxes me huh…I think…" said Chihiro "I think…I GOT IT!!...I got it!!" she exclaimed while putting blue paint on her palette.

"It got it! I got it" she exclaimed while almost putting the paint brush now covered with blue on the canvas. "I…….lost it…"

"Hitomi!!" Chihiro exclaimed "Hitomi!!!"

"What!?!?!" Hitomi replied who was annoyed because she was distracted from her work.

"Help me!!" said Chihiro "I can't think of anything!"

"Will keep quiet!!" Hitomi replied "I'm trying to do my work"

"Well help me!!" insisted Chihiro

"Will you quit it" said Hitomi "Honestly you are so annoying."

"Excuse me!!" said Chihiro who was clearly annoyed with what Hitomi said

"Yes, you are excused" replied Hitomi who was trying to go back to her work. She needed to concentrate again or else she'll lose the track of her artistic ideas.

"LOOK HERE!!" shouted Chihiro flicking her paint brush to point to Hitomi. Sadly she forgot about the paint she put on the paint brush which the flung onto Hitomi's face.

Hitomi then remained quiet giving off an evil aura.

Chihiro then frantically tried to apologize "Um…Look Hitomi…I didn't mean it! I'm so so-" She was interrupted when Hitomi then flung some red paint which landed on Chihiro's cheek.

Meruka who was watching then laughed so hard. "You guys look so silly"

Chihiro and Hitomi then looked at each other giving each other looks. They both nodded and got some of their paint tubes and aimed at Meruka. Meruka was then squirted with blue and red paint.

"Oh no you didn't" said Meruka

"I believe we did" said Hitomi mockingly

"You guys are so funny" laughed Mikan who was another observer of the fight. It was clear that it was a wrong move to do that because in the next moment Mikan was covered with paint. This then caught the whole class' attention.

No one knows what happened but the next thing they knew everyone was in a paint fight. People were throwing paint for revenge or just for the sake of throwing paint. Everyone was having so much fun that they forgot the task that they had to do. Hitomi, Chihiro and Meruka were about to splash Mikan with paint when she dodged. To everyone's dismay they hit the person who just entered the door. Expecting it to be Mr. Kouji they braced for some shouting. Instead of shouting they heard a crackle of electricity.

"Please tell me no!!" thought Hitomi hoping it wasn't who they think it was.

"I was here to give your star rankings" said their dreaded teacher Mr. Gino "but apparently some changes need to be made."

"I have a very horrible feeling that I know where this is going" thought Mikan

"Seems like the three of you need to be taught a lesson" said Gino who was clearly angry "I guess I just have no choice but to make the three of you…No stars"


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**Enthusiast**

**Author's Note: I know. It has been ages. I was just so busy and then we have exams. The bright side though. Summer is soon! I can't wait! I'll try to post as much as I can. Well…hope you enjoy it.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice, Digimon and Shaman King**

They didn't know what happened. It was as if it happened in a blink of an eye. Who would have guessed that what they did would have turned into a fatal mistake.

During art period Hitomi, Chihiro and Meruka all got in trouble. They did the impossible and idiotic. They had splashed Mr. Jinno with paint in the middle of a heated paint battle. This then, resulted him to make them no-stars. The sad thing was that if they waited a little bit longer of not doing anything then they would have a normal star ranking just like anyone. Apparently fate was simply not on their side.

"Its ok guys" Mikan tried to console "This exactly happened to me. Mr. Jinno just dislikes people with powers like us. It's not really your fault. He's just a horrible person"

"You can stop trying to make us feel better." Chihiro said with a dead and sad tone "Either way we still got a horrible star ranking"

"Because some stupid person didn't listen to the teacher" Hitomi said irritably

"I said I was sorry! You just never let anything down. Besides I was listening! I just couldn't comprehend" Chihiro replied sharply

"Relax Chihiro" Yoh said as he tried his best to make peace between the two. "Just take deep breaths. It can't be that bad. Right Mikan?"

"Huh!...well…yeah" Mikan said with obvious doubtfulness in her voice "You'll get used to it. I didn't mind after a while." She finished with a small practically tiny smile

"Are you kidding me?" Hotaru said softly without any sympathy "That idiot cried all the time. She kept on complaining and sulked for hours. She practically let this whole thing get into her head. It took me to say something to stop her from falling into despair."

"Way to cheer them up Hotaru" Sora said as she sighed "How about you just tell them what you told Mikan so that they can use it too"

"Why should I? It will only waste my time. Time is money after all" Hotaru said while taking a sip of her juice which for some reason seemed to just come out of nowhere. "Unless…" a glint of light passed through her eyes "you are willing to pay"

When Hotaru looked up she saw the rest of them crowding and talking in whispers.

"Mikan" said Tai Chi "How in the world did you get stuck with a selfish and money hungry friend like her." Sadly this was not left unheard by the famous and cold Hotaru Imai which resulted in Tai Chi being hit squarely on the head with her infamous baka gun.

"I'm sorry Tai Chi but I think you should have been expecting that once you spoke ill of Hotaru Imai" Yamato said as he was trying to calm Tai Chi down. In truth Tai Chi is pretty annoyed with the baka gun and sometimes would wish to smash with his bare hands one day. Sadly he would have to go through a whole lot of other people too. He isn't the only one who would want to get rid of it.

"Seriously you should relax Hotaru. That isn't how a 3-star model student should act" Yoh said teasingly. Sadly the moment he looked at Hotaru he received a glare from her. It was as if she was sending a telepathic message that if he said another word he would face the fury of her baka gun. Yoh realizing this didn't say a single word.

"Oh that reminds me" Chihiro said "What are all of your star rankings?"

"Well…" Sora said "It doesn't really matter does it. Star ranking isn't that important."

"Then why are you avoiding the question?" Hitomi asked while raising an eyebrow at Sora

"Really guys. It's no big deal" Yamato said to rescue Sora from the evil aura coming out of Hitomi.

"Come on!!" Chihiro said impatiently she then glanced towards Yoh who then suddenly whistled then slowly walked away. It was as if he did it on purpose to avoid Chihiro's glance. This annoyed the two girls even more.

"Hey" Meruka said which startled most of them since she hasn't spoken since the whole incident. In fact that was how Meruka was. She was always thinking of something and spacing out.

Surprisingly Meruka grabbed Tai Chi's ear and pulled it.

"Oww!!" Tai Chi said as he was fidgeting from Meruka's grasp "Let go!!"

"I will if you will please tell me and my friends what your star rankings are" Meruka said threateningly.

"Honestly you don't have to" Sora who was surprised with Meruka's actions said. After Sora said this Meruka simply pulled Tai Chi's ear even harder.

"OK! OK!" Tai Chi said in pain "We all got three stars!!!" After Tai Chi said this Meruka let go of his ear faced her friends and simply said "There you go"

"You guys are three starts!!" Chihiro said

"Yeah. Surprising huh. They said it was because we are rare alices." Yoh said plainly "Honestly, I don't think we deserve a three star."

"Hear that Chihiro." Hitomi said irritably "They all got three stars and we got a NO star"

"Will you stop pointing that out" Chihiro said angrily "You're the one who continued on with the paint fight. It's not only MY fault!"

"Well I wouldn't have done it if you didn't start it in the first place" Hitomi replied angrily and was raising her voice.

"WELL…" Chihiro continued but someone grabbed their ears and it was none other than Meruka.

"How about both of you guys just build a bridge and get over it" Meruka said irritably as she was slowly pulling their ears more by the second. As it became more and more unbearable the girls quickly said sorry to each other.

"Good!" Meruka said "I hope I won't hear anymore fights about this" She then shot looks of question towards Hitomi and Chihiro with which the two just shook their heads while holding their sore ears.

Before anyone could say anything it was announced that it was time for dinner.

"Well I guess it's time to try out our star ranking meals" Tai Chi said "I can share some of my food with you if you want, girls"

"Thanks" Chihiro said politely "It's ok though. We wouldn't want to feed of your food."

"Are you sure" Tai Chi asked

"We'll be fine" Meruka said with a smile "Let's go shall we."

As the others went ahead it was only Mikan ad Hotaru who were left there. Mikan then spoke to Hotaru "Poor girls. I remember how horrible it was to be a no star. They would have small tiny rooms, meals that were hardly any meals, once a week chores and even tiny allowances. I just hope they won't take it that bad"

"I guess they'll live." Hotaru simply said before leaving the classrooms.

At the cafeteria all of them sat in their respected seats and simply waited for their meals. Chihiro and Yoh were both fidgeting since both of them were talking animatedly and were curious about what the meals could be.

"Will you guys just please sit still" Yamato said irritably "You guys are starting to make me dizzy"

"Finally someone told them" Hitomi said "Here I thought I was the only sensible person to realize her wrongdoings."

"What do you mean by my wrongdoings" Chihiro said menacingly towards Hitomi

"Honestly guys. Why must you guys do this even at the dinner table" Mikan said as she was trying to calm the two down.

"Dinner is served" said a robot that seemed to pop out of nowhere. It came out along with a thirty more. Together they quickly gave the respected dinners to the deserving people.

The three-stars were given their meals and saw that their dinner was this rice dish along with a slab of juicy steak with it came a gravy bowl for those who wanted to put gravy. The meal came with soup, salad, mash potatoes and even a chocolate mousse cake for dessert. The one star meal, that Mikan had, was a simple spaghetti dinner which came with a drink of choice and bread rolls.

All of the students were gazing at their delicious meals. As Mikan and company were about to dig in they stopped and checked on the three girls. The no-star was a sad meal indeed. It comprised of a cup of rice with a tiny piece of seaweed on top. It came with a bowl of miso soup and pickle. That was simply it. The friends were about to give out their sympathy towards the three when they were disturbed by the calling of names.

Tai Chi, Sora and Yamato looked up to find Hikari and Takeru heading towards them.

"Hey big brother" the two of them both said.

"Aww…you guys are just so adorable" Mikan said. Her eyes were wide because she just can't believe how adorable they were. "Whose siblings are these?"

"Well Hikari who is the girl is sisters of Tai Chi. Takeru on the other hand is Yamato's brother." Sora said

Let me tell you how these kids look like. Hikari for one is a girl who has the same hair color as her brother. It's flat and cut at just right below the chin. Takeru is Yamato's brother who has the same color as him but his hair is shorter and flatter.

"Guess what older brother?" Takeru said excitedly "Hikari and I got our star rankings. We're both double stars but they said it's only because we're still young. They say we're going to be three stars with the rate we're going"

"Umm…Takeru I guess you should hush down first. It might make some of our friends feel bad" Tai Chi said quietly

"What do you mean brother?" Hikari asked

"Well we have friends who aren't as lucky as you" Yamato replied quietly "In fact they are very depressed about it."

Hikari and Takeru then looked at the table to see who they might have been talking about.

"Big brother?" Takeru started "Are those friends of yours those three girls?"

"Yes. Why?" Yamato asked curiously

"Well, they don't look very depressed to me." Hikari said. To the rest of the group's confusion they decided to check out Hitomi and company. When they did they got a huge shock.

Here, the whole group was expecting sad and depressed girls. Well, in fact it was quite the opposite. The girls who had a tiny meal were actually laughing. Another thing they noticed was that their food was half-finished. The strangest thing was that even though it was half-finished the girls seemed to not touch the remaining food.

"Um…" Sora asked "Is there something wrong with your food guys?"

"Nope." Chihiro replied cheerfully "It was really delicious. Why do you ask?"

"Well…you're not eating the rest of it." Yoh pointed out

"Yeah." Hitomi said "It's so good but we're just too full."

"You're Full?!?!?!" Yamato asked in disbelief

"Yeah." Meruka said "Who could eat this much? It's just too heavy! You want some?" she then offered to Tai Chi

"How could you guys be full??" Tai Chi asked in shock

"I don't know. We just are." Hitomi said simply

Surprisingly the meals weren't the only things that shocked them during that period.

During the end of the day the students were now going to be given their room assignments.

"Ok guys. I want you to know that even if your room isn't to your liking you should just continue smiling. You can only just go up to from this point" Mikan said as she was trying to motivate and encourage them. She wouldn't tell them just horrible these rooms would be.

"Ok? If you say so" Chihiro replied confusedly

"Girls" called a robot that was peering at them "My, my so many no-stars. This is not good. You see the school isn't used to having no-stars at this level. The last and only no-star we had was Mikan over here."

"Did you honestly need to bring that up?" Mikan said sadly

"Well, I guess it can't be help." The robot continued, ignoring Mikan's complaint "Since we only have one room I guess you guys have to stay together for the time being"

"Oh wow. Those poor girls. It was bad enough when I was alone. How much more if they are three? They're going to be cramped. I better go and try to comfort them more" Mikan thought. Just as she was about to say something Chihiro jumped up down.

"No way!!!!" Chihiro exclaimed happily "We get to stay in the same room!!!" She then faced her friends and continued to jump excitedly.

"Honestly Chihiro" Hitomi said "I'm really happy too but don't let anyone see you like this. They might think there is something wrong with you."

"Come on Hitomi! Cheer up" Chihiro said "You too Meruka." After Chihiro said this Hitomi and Meruka looked at each other and just shrugged. Then they jumped excitedly too in celebration.

"Wow…These girls are just…Wow" Mikan thought in confusion

"So guys" Ruka then went up to the girls "For some reason Mr. Narumi made me to tell you, you guys have to do these chores"

"Really? Wow…so you're telling me just because they're no-stars they have to do chores" Yoh asked in sympathy

"Pretty much" Ruka said pitifully "That's how it is"

"Well don't worry guys." Mikan said happily "I'm willing to help you guys out and I'm sure the others are too."

"Hold on…." Hitomi said "You're telling me we're going to have to do chores."

"Yeah" Sora said "I'm sorry guys that…" before Sora could finish though Chihiro was suddenly talking animatedly to the other two. The other two seemed to be excited too.

"What are you guys talking about" Yamato asked

"We're getting ready to do chores" Chihiro replied happily "I wonder what we'll do. I hope its dishes."

"Hold on…What??" Tai Chi asked in confusion. "Are you guys happy?"

"Yeah!" Hitomi replied with a smile on her face "Chores are so fun to do!!"

After Hitomi said this, the one thought that went in everybody else's mind was "These girls are really different than others"

"Yeah?" Mikan asked "So are you guys ok or something? Is there a chance they dropped you guys when you were a baby?"

"No!" Hitomi answered bluntly "Why what's wrong with us? Huh?"

"Oh nothing…Anyway…are you guys excited to go to Central Town?" Mikan said, changing the subject. She didn't feel like getting Hitomi angry already.

"Well sure but we have to wait for our allowance though" Yamato said

"We have allowance?" Meruka asked

"Yeah we do. The thing is that it depends on what your star ranking is though" Ruka then said

"It does? So does that mean since we are no-stars then we have a very low allowance" Chihiro asked. Everybody the shifted their eyes because they didn't want to see them feeling sad about it.

"Well…yeah…" Mikan then said "Don't worry thought. It's not like central town is that great and we can always lend you guys, money."

"Oh don't worry about us" Hitomi then said with a smile on her face "We won't really need it."

"Hold on…what?!?!" Mikan asked in confusion

"Yeah…the three of us don't really like to shop. It wouldn't matter how much we get. In fact it wouldn't even matter if we don't have allowance. It's not like we need it anyway." Meruka then said

"Well…guys" Hitomi then said "You guys want to do the chores now?"

"Sure!" Chihiro replied cheerfully "Well see you later guys! Oh and Yoh don't forget the book I lent you."

With that said the three girls left the group speechless. With nothing to say they could only think of one thing "These girls are just weird"

**Author's Note: Well I hope you guys enjoyed it! Summer time means more posts. Hopefully…**


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**Supreme Gifts**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice, Shaman King or Digimon**

**Author's Note: Well here is my attempt to keep my promise about posting more often. Hope you enjoy it! I'm just happy I'm having summer now! I'm sorry if it seemed too long. I actually went out of town for 10 days.**

It was like any ordinary day. The sun was up in the sky, illuminating the whole area. It brought on light to show the happy faces of the people. It brought on the beautiful songs of the birds and made the various plants and flowers glow.

Sadly who are we kidding? In this academy nothing is normal. Here, things usually are not as they seem. For example, if you would look closely those flowers that you have seen could have probably been talking. In fact, these flowers probably don't even exist anywhere except inside the academy. Once you enter the academy, say goodbye to the normal because the only thing you know for sure is that anything can happen.

This academy is sure to bring on different adventures. After all, this academy is full of gifted people and I don't mean gifted only in things like art or athletics. I mean gifts beyond normal human capacity. Things like flying, passing through walls and such. Who knows what could happen with these extraordinary people in it?

Well for today one class' adventure happens during physical education. Here, we see our favorite characters experiencing something totally different from what they are used to. They are facing physical education— Alice Academy style.

"Ok people! We are going to do track now!" The P.E. teacher shouted after blowing her whistle. "Now line up in your respective lines and get ready to have some healthy competition with some of your classmates."

Sadly, people here don't want any competition at all. All the students would know it's useless to compete since it's always the same people who win. People have just given up when it comes to things not to their forte. The thing is, for some new students, this fact hasn't been etched in their minds. Not yet, at least.

"Come on!" Yoh said energetically "I can't wait to do some exercise. I'm just dying to stretch after being dormant for so long."

"I know right!" Hitomi exclaimed loudly "Let's go kick some butt. I can't wait to beat those suckers!"

"Hitomi!" Meruka scolded "Quit trying to show off."

"Don't worry!" Hitomi said while trying to look away from Meruka "I won't brag too much."

"You know that's not the point" Meruka said sharply

"Chill Meruka," Tai Chi said cheerfully "She's just playing around. I'm sure she won't do anything out of line."

"Oh so you're on her side, are you?" Meruka said sharply towards Tai Chi this time.

"He didn't say that." Chihiro said, rescuing Tai Chi from Meruka's coldness. "Anyway come on! Let's stretch!" after she said this she then pulled Meruka and Hitomi to the side where there was more space.

"Those girls really like to stick together don't they?" Sora said, smiling while looking at the three girls talking and stretching at the same time.

"It's so adorable" Mikan said "They remind me of Hotaru and me. Right Hotaru?" Mikan faced Hotaru to find that she was all the way on the other side of the field. "HOTARU! How dare you leave me without saying anything?!!"

"Class! Stretching time is over!" the P.E. teacher said "Head to your lines and get ready to run."

"I'm so pumped up for this!" Chihiro exclaimed while jogging in place.

"Honestly Chihiro, I thought handling Hitomi was bad enough. Just don't go too far." Meruka said.

"Sure, sure." Hitomi said boringly

"I have a feeling you won't take it to heart." Meruka said then sighed in defeat

"Now, if you guys are done discussing" Yoh said "How about we go to our lines?"

"Sure!" Chihiro exclaimed then dragged her friends once again.

"Ok! Now that everyone is ready…on your mark, get set, GO!" the PE shouted towards the whole class.

Once he shouted the race had started. Truthfully the race wasn't that lively and people seemed to be walking rather then running. On the other hand, the new students were running like crazy.

"Ha ha!" Yoh exclaimed "I'm going to beat you guys." as he was reaching the half-way mark.

"Say that now but trust me. You'll be eating my dust" Sora said as she was neck to neck with Yoh.

"Honestly Sora, you don't need to be competitive." Yamato said as he was not far behind from the two

"And what's wrong with being competitive?" Tai Chi said as he was passing by Yamato and gaining speed towards Yoh and Sora.

All the new students were laughing and running with all their might when they felt a sudden rush of wind.

"What?!?!" Chihiro asked in shocked "Did you guys feel it??" Before the rest could answer the PE teacher then said loudly that startled Chihiro and company.

"Ok!! We have our 1st placer!" the PE teacher said plainly as if it was nothing special. "I wonder who will be the 3rd"

"Isn't it strange how he said 3rd and not 2nd" Hitomi asked curiously as she tried to hurry up. It was only a second when they found out the reason.

"And here is our 2nd placer" the PE teacher said "What took you so long?"

"Wait a minute!!! What took him so long?" Chihiro asked "He expected it to come."

"Actually yes he did." Mikan then said

"Oh hey Mikan, nice to see you're joining." Yoh then said happily.

"Well yeah. I didn't quite feel like quitting right now. Maybe next time." Mikan said cheerfully.

"Next time?" Tai Chi asked.

"This happens all the time. During tests, PE and anytime they can use it." Mikan said before she sighed.

"This is so unfair. She can't just teleport like that and not bother to try fair and square" Hitomi said as she clenched her fist.

"Well what are you going to do? That's how it is" Mikan said as if she was tired of this too.

After the race Mikan decided to tell them more about Alices.

"You see there are many types of Alices and they're even put in different types and shapes." Mikan started

"So there are types and shapes huh…" Yamato asked in interest.

"Yes. So in school majority are in these four classes. We have Latent, Technical, Somatic and Special Ability type. Latents are basically those most common in school. They are connected to ESP. An example would be like the teleportation guy we saw earlier." Mikan continued explaining.

"Ok…" Sora said as she processed it "Go on"

"Well…Technical are those who have talents of craftsmanship, arts and certain activities. An example is Hotaru who has the ability of invention. Latents have powers that involve the body. An example is super speed. Special ability types are those who don't classify into anything and are some of the rarest alice. I'm in it so that means Meruka and company are in it too." Mikan said.

"So we're Special Ability huh…" Meruka said softly.

"So tell us about these shapes?" Yoh asked.

"Well there are four types actually. The first one is where our alices can only work during our childhood but once we turn adult it disappears. The second is where one can exert o great amount of power but it is effective for a short period of time. The third is where you exert a small amount of power in a long amount of time." Mikan said

"Ok…hold on it's slowly sinking in my brain" Tai Chi said as he was staring blankly and in deep thought. "Wait you said there are four. One is missing." He figured out after some time.

"Oh yeah…" Mikan said looking down "Well…the fourth one is where one has limitless power."

"Wow…that's incredible. Imagine limitless power" Yamato said in surprise

"The sad thing is. Even though they say it's limitless it comes with a price." Mikan said glumly and softly "In return for limitless power the person's life in turn becomes drained."

After Mikan said this the rest grew silent. No one wanted to say anything. The reality that there being a power like this was too shocking and mostly saddening. The only sound that was made was Meruka who gasped after hearing this. Right now Meruka was clutching to her legs and looking down. This didn't go unnoticed by Tai Chi so he simply patted her back.

"Wow…" Tai Chi finally said "What a sad price to pay."

"Yes…indeed" Mikan said softly as she was thinking of something too. "Well…we better get going…" Mikan said after taking a deep breath and smiling again

"Yeah we should." Tai Chi said too as he got up and tried to copy Mikan "Let's go!!" he then pulled Meruka up this in turn leaving her shocked.

"Let's eat something! How about ice cream?" Tai Chi said cheerfully

"Oh sure. Can we come?" Chihiro and Hitomi then said.

"Sure…how about everyone come" Tai Chi suggested "Let's go!"

"OK!!!" Mikan then said smiling "Is it ok if my friends come too?"

"The more the merrier." Sora said before Tai Chi could say anything

"Well I'll meet up with you guys later." Mikan then said as she waved while running towards wherever her friends were.

Mikan went to the first place she could think of. That of course would be the sakura tree she loved so much. Sure enough Natsume would always be seen napping under there with a manga beside him.

Mikan ran as she was excited to invite all her friends to join her newly found friends. Even if Natsume wouldn't like it, I'm sure sooner or later they can be all good friends.

When Mikan reached the sakura tree, she was excited when she saw a boy in the same grade as her sitting down under the sakura tree. Just as she was about to yell 'Natsume' she then saw the boy's face. It was none other than Ruka. The problem was something was disturbing her. There was something out of place then that's when it hit her…his face. His face was full of worry and concern.

"Ruka what's wrong with you?" Mikan asked with concern and alarm.

All Ruka needed to do was look up to Mikan and stare into her eyes.

"Don't tell me that idiot went again…" Mikan said in depression she then slowly sat on the ground to join along Ruka. They simply had to wait till Natsume would come back. They would be there for him whether he wants them to or not. Ready to rush in for help for that is what they simply do.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**Confrontation**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice, Digimon or Shaman King**

**Author's Note: Hey guys hope you enjoy this. I am trying to post as much as I can. I'll be swamped once school starts again. Hope you enjoy it.**

They just didn't understand why Mikan would hang around with that guy. It just didn't make sense. Why would a great and nice person like her stay with a delinquent like him?

What Mikan saw in Natsume was a mystery to the new students. To them, Natsume was simply a person who would skip classes and when he would attend, he didn't seem to bother to listen to the class at all. He has a horrible attitude, scary aura and cold demeanor. To them, Natsume was simply a person who apparently was 'good-looking' (according to his fanclub).

For a while they concluded that Mikan must have fallen for his handsome appearance but they knew better than that. Mikan wasn't the type to like people based on how they look like. She was more than that, so if it wasn't his handsomeness then… what could it be?

Ruka was another mystery to them. He was as nice as Mikan and whenever they bumped into him he would greet them kindly. One could easily tell that he has a good heart just by the way he acts. The problem with him is that he always goes with Natsume all the time. They are almost inseparable. The gang just wouldn't really know what is up with Natsume.

If Natsume was really this bad why does he have Mikan and Ruka by his side all the time? It always confused Yoh and company.

"Seriously…that guy is just really annoying." Yamato said "He didn't show up again."

"It's Natsume. You shouldn't get worked up. It happens all the time" Tai Chi said as he sighed. He too was still annoyed. Who could forget their first encounter?

"Hey guys. It's Mikan" Meruka pointed out.

"Mikan, over here!" Sora called to Mikan who had just entered the door. When the group closely looked at her they realized that she had dark circles under her eyes.

"Woah…late sleeper are we?" Yoh said as he continued to stare at Mikan's eye bags that weren't there yesterday.

"Oh hey guys" Mikan sleepily walked over "What's up?" she said stifling a yawn.

"Well we were worried that you didn't meet up with us in the ice cream parlor" Yamato explained.

"Oh no!" Mikan jolted "I'm so sorry! It's just something important came up. I just forgot."

"It's ok" Tai Chi replied "You did miss out though."

"Yeah, you should have seen the way Chihiro devoured her coffee ice cream" Sora said.

"Will you guys stop pointing that out?" Chihiro complained "I couldn't sleep because of that and I got a huge brain freeze."

"It's your fault you couldn't control yourself." Hitomi pointed out.

"Wow…I really wish I could have gone." Mikan said again "Let's do it another time ok?"

"Sure, what happened anyway?" Sora asked.

"Oh…well…I was with a friend" Mikan replied quietly as if she was trying to avoid this subject.

"Uh huh. Who is this so called friend of yours?" Yoh asked curiously.

"Well…I was with Ruka." Mikan explained.

"Let me guess…that means you were with Natsume too." Yamato concluded "Honestly Mikan, why?"

"Why?" MIkan asked.

"Yes Mikan. Why do you like hanging with _that _guy?" Tai Chi asked "He doesn't seem like the right type to hang with."

"Well…you guys actually don't have any right to say anything about him. You don't know him at all." Mikan defended.

"Trust me Mikan, just by how he acts. We kind of get the idea of who he really is." Sora explained "He gives off this horrible aura and he is super cold. He has disregard for the rules too."

"Well you guys probably don't know anything else. Did you know that he is a special star?" Mikan defended once again.

"A special what??" Chihiro asked

"A special star is another star ranking. It's the highest wherein Natsume is the only one in our department who has it. He in fact is our department's student principal." Mikan continued explaining. The thing was once she explained this the new students didn't speak. They had nothing to say. In Mikan's mind though she thought she had won the fight.

"So are you actually telling us that Natsume is a student principal and he has the highest star ranking possible." Yoh said cautiously

"Yes, both of those are correct." Mikan said in satisfaction. In fact she was lifting her head high in appreciation of herself.

"So that guy is now a corrupt leader who is probably full of himself." Yamato suggested.

"Seems like the type to do it." Hitomi concluded.

"I wonder what dirty tricks he did to get to where he is." Sora said

"Hey, hey guys. Haven't you heard of the benefit of the doubt?" Tai Chi explained.

"Finally!!! Someone isn't trying to bad mouth him." Mikan said after sighing in relief.

"Yeah" Tai Chi continued "His fans probably did the dirty jobs for him" after saying this, the rest laughed along too.

"Hey guys come on" Mikan said irritably "Well you quit saying all those things about Natsume! All you guys keep on saying is--" Suddenly the door opened but that didn't stop Mikan from continuing.

"Natsume is a jerk who likes to slum all the time. That he just got to where he was because he is a conniving person who does not care about anything but himself." Mikan continued ranting "He is a selfless, cold-hearted human being and…"

"And???" said a voice from behind Mikan. Mikan who has already tired of trying to defend her friend was even more irritated by this guy who just pops out of nowhere. He had no right to barge into her business where he has nothing to do with it. Not to mention interrupting her in the process. In fact she was going to tell him right now. With that Mikan turned around and said "LOOK HERE!!..." that's when she saw who it was "Natsume?"

"Mikan?"asked a shocked Ruka who was right beside Natsume. He honestly did not understand what happened and couldn't believe what Mikan said.

"So would you care to explain or would you like to continue your rant?" Natsume asked. In truth Natsume was seriously annoyed. He didn't even want to go to class but Ruka told him to go. Ruka kept on saying that it will worry everyone especially Mikan. So against his will he decided to go and opened the door to hear Mikan bad-mouthing him.

"It's not what you think!!!" Mikan shouted quickly "I was just telling my point!!"

"And your point is how much you hate me?" Natsume replied sharply.

"No, no look. I was just…" Mikan was just confused. What could she tell him now? She was stuck and in for trouble.

"Look Natsume! It's not Mikan's fault" Meruka suddenly said. This surprised everyone especially since they didn't think quiet Meruka would actually talk and come to Mikan's defense. "Mikan was simply defending you! She was just pointing out the rumors going around about and how they are so wrong about you. Then you suddenly came."

With that Natsume simply looked back and forth between the two and breathed out a little to calm himself. "And what brought her to say that?" Natsume asked Meruka.

Sadly Meruka didn't know what to say. She couldn't tell them that they have been talking about him and how Mikan was pointing the things that they said. Tai Chi who realized Meruka's panicked face decided to come to the rescue too.

"I was kinda talking about you." Tai Chi said after taking a deep breath.

"And so it was you, huh?" Natume said now turning his glare to him.

"Well truthfully we had the right to talk about you with the way you act so high and mighty." Hitomi then said bluntly.

"Hitomi!" Meruka scolded at her and even slapped her arm.

"Hn, You guys don't know a thing about me" Natsume then said after giving Hitomi a deadly glare. With that he simply walked away towards the door with Ruka following him. Ruka was looking back worriedly while doing so.

"Typical, just because you have the fire alice makes people want to fear you. I bet it isn't even that great." Hitomi continued as she continued to scrutinize him.

"HITOMI!" this time both Meruka and Chihiro scolded her.

Sadly the damage was done. Natsume who was already opening the door stopped in his tracks. In fact the whole classroom itself seemed to be getting warmer.

"I can say the same about you." Natsume turned to look at Hitomi "If you think your stupid nullification alice can beat mine then let's see."

"Hey back off! She was wrong to say that but you know her alice isn't an alice used for offense." Tai Chi came once again to the rescue.

"Yeah why won't you fight against somebody who can actually fight." Yoh decided to defend Hitomi too.

"Ok…fine…I accept that challenge" Natsume said with a smirk and a raise of an eyebrow.

"Excuse me!" Yoh asked "I didn't say I was the one challenging you"

"So are you expecting someone to come to the rescue now?" Natsume asked tauntingly.

"Natsume stop it!" Mikan shouted to stop what was sure to happen.

"And you are just so cocky." Tai Chi said while glaring at him.

"Then prove me wrong." Natsume then said "Later after school in the forest. I expect both of you guys" with that he left with Ruka tailing along and looking at Mikan as if they were sending each other messages of worry and panic. Natsume then left the room along with Ruka and slammed the door behind him.

"It's all thanks to your stupid mouth." Meruka said to Hitomi angrily and hit her on the head once again.

"Fine! I'm sorry. Just quit hitting me." Hitomi finally said while rubbing her head.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

**Revealing of Powers**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice, Digimon or Shaman King**

**Author's Note: Hopefully I can get out as much chapters as possible! Well hope you enjoy!**

It can't be right. It must be an illusion. Yet why do I have this really bad feeling? Why can't I just let it go and move on? I realize that I can't, simply because I know I can't just relax. It's far too important to ignore. I was given this task as the High School Principal. This is the task I received that in the end could change and even endanger the entire world.

I am right now observing a stone. This stone however is not ordinary. If one would observe it then you could see the small engravings that are all over the stone. You see, I was given this stone by organizations bent on one purpose. They were all involved with the legend of the Dark Conquerors. Yes, a legend that was a children's bedtime story but I knew better than that. I was told the real truth. They were real. All of it was going to happen but the problem is that they wouldn't know when.

That's why there are tons of organizations. These organizations have come up with many reactions to this legend. All of them agree to the avoiding of this to come true. In the end though all of them also agree in the destruction of the Dark Conquerors if this goes too far.

I'm part of their plan you see. As the principal of a school full of "gifted" students, they had picked this place, one of many; to be monitored. After all, the Dark Conquerors were bound to be gifted. Who knows what powers they could possess? They gave me this enchanted stone which is to serve as my alarm for them. They told me if is glows brightly then that means the Dark Conquerors were here. Once we find them I am given another task, a task I hopefully won't be troubled with.

The problem right now though is that something is going wrong. The rock was flickering. It wasn't glowing but sometimes I catch it exhibiting a tiny amount of light in one second then it was gone the next. I keep telling myself it was a trick of the light or I'm just imagining things. Hopefully it is those things because if it isn't than that could mean one thing. The Dark Conquerors are right now at that moment in the academy.

"I can't believe you guys are actually going to do this!" Mikan said as she was trying her best to drag Yoh and Tai Chi back to their dorms. In the process though, she herself got dragged along the ground they were walking on.

"We might as well. Who knows? Maybe after this, Natsume will stop trying to be a jerk." Yoh said as he continued to walk beside Tai Chi and didn't seem to mind Mikan's efforts at all.

"So, why are you guys coming?" Tai Chi said facing towards the rest of the group composing of Yamato, Sora, Chihiro and Meruka who were dragging a fidgeting Hitomi. In fact, even Takeru and Hikari were there trailing after them.

"Well, I want to support big brother. Plus I hear that guy has this dangerous power so I'm here to help you if you get hurt." Hikari said while smiling.

"Hikari's right. We've been through together so much that I guess we can't help but want to try help and support you. That's what best friends are for" Yamato said with Sora and Takeru nodding their heads in agreement.

Tai Chi smiled. He then turned to the three girls wherein Meruka and Chihiro were really giving their all to try to tame Hitomi who looked deadly.

"Oh" Chihiro realized that the rest were wondering why were they coming along "Well, we have many reasons. One is because we feel close with you guys already so it's normal for friends to support friends. Two is because we actually want to see how this will go and finally because we kinda feel bad that our stupid friend started this in the first place" Chihrio ended then sighed as she glanced at the struggling Hitomi.

"I said I was sorry" Hitomi said while trying to remove the grasp of her friends "Why do I have to come?"

"You might as well see it to the end" Meruka said to Hitomi which gave off a cold feeling towards Hitomi.

The group was smiling and laughing despite of what would happen once they enter the forest. Right now, they were enjoying the moment. Even though Mikan kept on reprimanding them for how they reacted they still didn't really care. In fact, Yoh and Tai Chi were actually excited to fight. They haven't used their powers for a really long time. Tai Chi missed seeing his digimon friend, Agumon.

They were so excited that once they saw the forest they even walked faster towards it to the dismay of Mikan who was still hanging on to the two.

The forest was nicely shaded and the trees blocked the view of those passersby from seeing their fight. When they entered the forest though, they felt an amount of heat. Mikan realizing that this heat came from the flame caster tried even harder to pull on the two.

"Well…I'm glad you guys didn't chicken out" said Natsume who had just jumped down from the tree above them. He landed softly and swiftly on the ground with a tiny thud. From behind a tree Ruka revealed himself. Apparently he was waiting with Natsume for this fight. Ruka looked even more nervous and worried then earlier that morning.

"Why would we?" Yoh simply said while giving off glares towards Natsume.

"Well, the cowards usually do" Natsume replied while smirking "Anyway enough talking how about we start with it?"

"Fine by me" Tai Chi said with Yoh nodding in agreement

With that, the spectators walked to the side within safe distance from the fight. With their powers who knows what could happen? The problem was Hitomi was struggling until now but finally she broke free from her friends' clutches.

"Finally! I'm free" Hitomi exclaimed and ran off.

"Hitomi!" Chihiro shouted towards the place where Hitomi run off "Come back here!" with that Chihiro started running after Hitomi.

After watching her two friends depart Meruka simply sighed and turned to the rest. "Sorry guys, we have to take care of the problem that is Hitomi. We'll try to come back as soon as possible." With that Meruka departed from the group running in the same direction as her friends.

The group then turned back to what was happening to the three.

"Are you ready now?" Natsume said as he brought out a flame from his hand.

"One second…" Tai Chi said as he brought out something. Natsume was clearly puzzled from this item. It seemed to be a gadget that he has never seen. It had a square screen in the middle of a circle with inscriptions on it. The device it self seemed to be like a plus sign with the top and bottom sign a little longer the sides. This interested those who didn't know what it was in the first place.

Suddenly this machine started glowing. It was glowing with this incredible bright light. Before you knew it right beside Tai Chi appeared a circle glowing with a bright orange light. It was turning and turning and it grew bigger. As the circle grew big enough, out came a creature that was new to Natsume, Mikan, Ruka and Yoh. It looked like a T-rex yet it was the size of a dog and it was orange in appearance. Stunned by this creature none of them could speak.

"Long time no see" Tai Chi said while smiling towards the dinosaur replica.

"Yup! A very long time!" the creature said towards Tai Chi as it smiled. This really creeped out Mikan.

"It can speak!!!!" Mikan shouted as she was stunned by the thing that appeared before her eyes.

"Huh?" Tai Chi asked in confusion. That's when it hit him "Oh I'm sorry. I forgot that you've never seen him before" he said while scratching his head in apology "This is my friend and digimon partner, Agumon"

"Hi there" Agumon said cheerily towards Mikan.

"Uh…h-hi?" Mikan replied as she was still shocked at what was before her eyes

"Hello" Agumon said and waved towards Sora, Yamato, Takeru and Hikari with them waving back and replying.

Natsume who finally snapped out from the surprise of this new creature spoke "Well…if you guys are done, can we get on with it now?"

Yoh spoke not quite yet. Yoh then smiled as he brought stretched and brought out a sword that was wrapped in some cloth.

"Oh, so that was what you were carrying" Tai Chi said as he looked at the sword in curiosity "Wait…hold on…you have a sword?"

Yoh replied "You have a dinosaur as your partner?"

"Touché." was all Tai Chi could say as he laughed at Yoh reply.

"So you're going to fight with a weapon huh?" Natsume said "Is your power swordsmanship or something?" Natsume asked critically.

"Not really" Yoh said. Suddenly it seemed like a sphere of fog suddenly appeared near Yoh's Sword. He suddenly said something that confused everybody "Amidamaru into the sword" Suddenly his sword for some reason was glowing the same way as that ball that was floating near Yoh's sword earlier. It seemed as if the sphere had taken over the sword. That's when it hit the rest. The sword seemed to take a different shape. In fact it's as if there was a piece of armor on Yoh's upper arm and in the process the glowing reached up to his arm.

"This is one of the things I can do" Yoh said as he readied himself in stance as if ready to jolt.

Tai Chi simply chucked as he prepared alongside with Agumon

"Tch" Natsume simply said as he got ready to fight too. "Maybe this might be fun." he finished with a smirk.


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

**Clashing Powers**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice, Digimon or Shaman King.**

**Author's Note: I'm sorry this took forever. I unfortunately am not so good at descriptions so in the end this chapter may come out horrible. I'm also sorry that it might b dull. **** Please bear with me and please help me with more suggestions. Hope you enjoy!**

**

* * *

**

The wind has been blowing without rest. On such a fine day they never knew the wind would blow this hard. Its wind speed was definitely different than before. It became the cause of ruining some of the plans the students of the academy made for today. It was no use fixing their picnic lunches or taking a stroll. It would just leave them feeling cold, tired and restless not to mention it would be impossible to even put the blanket on the soft green grass without being blown by the wind. Even kites were hard to manage in this windy day. They get blown by a gush of wind and the next you know they're in a branch of a tree, too high to reach.

The wind though did not do anything to these students in the forest. These students had much more things to concentrate on. They were in a middle of a battle, ready to pounce and deflect in a split second. A slip of concentration would be fatal when one is in battle. They can't just let a little wind stop and distract them. Not even those who were watching could let the wind distract them. It was too tense of a moment to let anything bother them. Right now each person was simply occupied with the thought of the battle in front of them. Each and every person simply stayed where they were. Not one even making a single sound and the only thing that was heard was the whooshing of the relentless wind.

Then the silence was broken as Natsume threw a ball of flame. The crackling orange and yellow ball of flame was zooming through the air and was hurtling to Tai Chi in incredible speed. Luckily Agamon was ready for this and quickly jumped and opened up its mouth full of dinosaur shaped teeth and to most of everybody's surprise Agamon had expelled a fireball out of his mouth which collided with Natsume's. The clash had resulted in a BOOM as both fires caused a mini fireworks display. After such a display the wind quickly blew away the residue of little sparks and smoke. The wind whirled and whirled causing the sparks to circle around everyone.

"Hmph" Natsume said straightening himself and flexing his fingers. His bloody red eyes glared at Agamon and then darted towards Tai Chi then straight to Yoh. "Well now I know what the plush dinosaur toy does" he said with a smirk.

"Agamon is not a plush toy" Tai Chi said loudly in defense for his friend "He destroyed your fireball by the way. If you haven't noticed" Tai Chi then simply returned Natsume's smirk.

"Too bad you're useless." Natsume said "I bet your pet over there does all the work while you just sit back and relax."

"Excuse me?" Tai Chi said angrily as he looked at Natsume with complete hate from that snide remark.

"It doesn't matter. I can handle that pipsqueak anyway." Natsume said as he steadied himself to his battling stance. He then put his hand upward and on top of his palm an orange and red fire danced and flickered around it obviously showing he was invulnerable to his own flames.

"Then try handling this!" shouted Yoh causing Natsume to realize he had forgotten about watching Yoh and left himself unguarded to him. Before he knew it Yoh was running straight at him with incredible speed. His glowing sword was at his side leaving traces of flickering light behind him as he ran. The light flowed behind as if it was a tail. Luckily Natsume had already readied that ball of fire in his hand and threw it at Yoh.

Yoh then steadied his sword in front of him and slashed the fireball causing it to disperse and disappear giving out smoke. After emerging from the smoke Yoh continued to run to Natsume to find out he wasn't where he last saw him. Yoh then frantically looked for him to his left and right.

"On top of you!" shouted Tai Chi who has just been able to see through the smoke that blocked the view of everyone.

Yoh then looked up to see Natsume coming at him with fireballs burning in both of his hands ready to be used as projectiles in any moment. Luckily before Natsume could react Yoh slashed his blade which created a sort of crescent glow that Natsume found out was concentrated energy.

"What?" Natsume said as he blocked just in time but was sent flying by that sword attack into a tree. Luckily Natsume who was trained for situations like this quickly moved and hit the tree with the soles of his feet. Though painful Natsume simply hid the pain and pushed himself from the tree sending him in the air to attack Yoh.

Yoh had no idea what happened but suddenly Natsume was flying on top of him again and before Yoh could attack once again Natsume had shot three balls of fire one after another, hurtling at one target, Yoh. It took the last remaining seconds for Yoh just to block those balls of fires but the impact was still strong enough for him to lose his footing and sent him crashing to the next tree, dragging his feet on the ground with him.

Before Natsume could land and gloat, his attention was caught by Tai Chi. "Hey idiot, look here" shouted Tai Chi. But as Natsume turned to look he was hit by a ball of fire and it sent him crashing to the ground.

"Ouch…" Tai Chi said while looking at Natsume "Tough Luck" he continued but suddenly another gush wind came and along with it some specks of dirt. Tai Chi and the spectators had blocked their eyes with their arms in order to protect their eyes from the wind and dirt. Once Tai Chi had dropped his arm to look again Natsume had taken this time to his advantage and threw a fireball straight at Tai Chi.

Luckily Tai Chi wasn't as helpless as one would think and quickly avoided the fireball by jumping away and landing on the ground with seconds to spare, instead the fireball had hit the tree that was behind Tai Chi. The tree had gone up in fire. "Great" Tai Chi said as he looked at the tree burning beside him.

"Great job for trying to burn the forest down, sparky." Tai Chi said at Natsume

"It wouldn't have happened if you didn't move" Natsume said angrily with balls of fire growing bigger and bigger. Before Natsume could have said more or done anything else he was suddenly slammed by a force and pushed towards the ground but his body continued to be dragged on the ground by the force that had hit him and he didn't stop moving till he hit a tree.

Natsume propped himself up to see that it was Yoh who had hit him. Yoh hadn't hit him with the sword though. It appears that Yoh had slammed Natsume with his body which sent him to the ground.

"That's revenge for sending me flying to a tree." Yoh said while rubbing his neck "That hurts you know."

"I'll show you what hurts!" Natsume said angrily as he stood up and suddenly threw fireballs continuously at Yoh, Tai Chi and Agamon.

"Brilliant, get him more angry." Tai Chi said to Yoh as he was running and dodging the balls of fire which missed by only inches and centimeters. The three of them were just dodging as they ran as fast as they could, wherever they went balls of fire went whistling past them from the back and even right in front of them. In the process of missing though some of the balls of fire went hurtling towards the spectators which luckily Mikan had her nullifying power to stop them. Most of them though had hit the branches, trunks and leaves of the trees surrounding them.

All of them suddenly stopped whatever they were doing to realize that in the process of all of it Natsume had spread his fire to the trees. All of them were now surrounded completely by a burning forest.

"Natsume!" Mikan shouted in a panic "Stop it! Stop the fire from spreading and getting bigger not to mention saving us!"

"Hold on!" Natsume said quickly and had killed off some of the fires beside him. "Tch." Natsume uttered with this annoyed look on his face

Mikan had noticed Natsume's reaction and asked "Is there something wrong Natsume?"

"This fire isn't much of my alice power anymore. I can't quickly kill it off like I would if it was my alice." Natsume shouted at Mikan trying to kill off more of the fire nearing them "The problem is if I try to kill it off at the rate I'm going the fire will spread too far and become too big that I won't be able to stop it. I can try harder though!" he shouted as he suddenly put out an incredible amount of fire and faced to the other parts of the woods to put out more of the fire when suddenly Natsume coughed violently and recoiled to his knees.

"Natsume!" Ruka shouted as he ran towards his best friend. "You're still not yet well from the last mission are you?"

Natsume was panting hard and simply looked at Ruka. Natsume saw Ruka's pain and worry in his eyes. "Don't be silly Ruka." Natsume said in between breaths. "I'm fine" he said while standing up. One can see though how hard and painful it was for Natsume to stand up from his position. His legs shook horribly as he put one after another on the ground and steadied himself.

"You idiot." Mikan said while running towards Natsume "You better not move! If you do! I swear I'll make sure you won't be well once I'm done with you."

"No! I can't just not do anything. We'll burn, you idiot. If I can't stop it, what do you think will happen to us?" Natsume said still breathing hard and Mikan noticed his determination despite the pain when she looked at him.

"Don't worry." Yamato suddenly said which caught the attention of everyone. "We can take care of this. Just rest." he said which shocked Natsume's company and even Yoh.

"How can you?" asked Ruka

"We'll show you. Come on" Yamato said as he looked at Sora who nodded in understanding. Yamato took her hand and brought her with him to the middle. Suddenly both of them had brought out the same devices that Tai Chi had except both of them seemed to have different colors. Yamato had his in blue while Sora had hers in Red.

Suddenly both of these devices started glowing just like Tai Chi did, except it glowed the same color as their devices. The next thing that happened two circles appeared just as what happened with Tai Chi and in the end two separate creatures came out of them. The one that was addressed as Gabumon by Yamato was this creature that had blue and white fur with a horn on top of his and it had two visible teeth like one of saber tooth tigers. It seemed to have two flaps of fur that looked like extra arms that fell at its side. The stomach of this creature was yellow in color.

Beside Sora whose name apparently was Biyomon was a creature that looked like a bird that had pink colored feathers, a yellow beak and feet and a stray feather on top of it's which was the color of pink with blue stripes which slightly flopped.

"Ok! Gabumon, start using you ice powers to kill the fire." Yamato said.

"No problem" Gabumon replied. He then quickly blew out this icy breath that started removing the surrounding fires.

"Biyomon" Sora said "Fly up and blow out you the fire with some wind attacks."

"Ok!" Biyomon said as she started flying and sent blasts of wind one after another, blowing away the fire.

"Good job guys!" Yoh said as he looked at how the fire was being put out little by little.

"Don't congratulate us yet." Yamato said as he suddenly stiffened. "I'm afraid it might not be fast enough. We're making progress indeed but not enough." Yamato said not losing his sight on the increasing huge fire. "It could end up reaching the academy."

"I'm going to have to help." Natsume said as he stood up straighter and removed the hands of Ruka and Mikan that were feebly trying to restrain him.

"Natsume!" Ruka said as he motioned towards him. "You can't use your power too much."

"I'm really fine Ruka." Natsume said as he turned towards his best friend "I can do it."

But before Ruka could do something, suddenly another huge gush of wind started blowing incredibly hard. It was so hard that everyone had to shield their eyes as leaves, dust and twigs flew about.

"Is this the work of that creature?" Mikan asked as she couldn't see past this incredible wind. It was hard enough to keep her hair from flying about and even into her mouth as she spoke how much more trying to see with all those hazards.

"Biyomon?" Sora asked but looked up to see Biyomon being carried by the wind and was hurtling towards the ground. Luckily Sora had dove towards the ground in time and caught Biyomon before she could hit the ground. Yamato ran straight towards Gabumon grabbed him and went straight towards Takeru alongside Tai Chi who had done the same with Agamon and was heading towards Hikari. The two older brothers held on to their digimon and sibling against the winds. Bracing the wind, all of them couldn't help but exclaim shouts and screams caused by the wind.

Before they knew what happened, the wind stopped and everyone had dropped their arms that were raised in defense of the winds. Everyone looked with awe as they realized that the fire surrounding them was completely extinguished.

"Big brother, what…just happened?" Hikari asked as she took in her surroundings.

"I'm not quite sure." Tai Chi answered honestly. Everyone was shocked by what happened too. No one could understand what just happened.

"Well, well, well" said a voice that caught everyone's attention. To their dismay the one who spoke was Mr. Jinno who was standing their with his stick crackling with electricity. He was surveying the kids then looked at the damage of the forest that surrounded them. Although the fire wasn't spread too far a number of trees were burnt and destroyed.

"You guys are definitely in a heap of trouble now." Mr. Jinno said while eyeing each one of the students with hate.


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

**Contrition**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice, Shaman King or Digimon**

**Author's Note: Hello! I know it was forever since I wrote but here is chapter 9. Apparently I have to write more of these! :)) Hopefully I'll make more quickly.**

"Hurry up you troublemakers!" Jinno shouted at the group of students. The group composed of two 6th graders and seven 9th graders. By one word alone can one be able to describe the situation of the group and that word was 'busted'.

This group was recently caught in the woods where they were to have watched a battle between three of the people among them. All of the three people who were to battle happened to be 9th graders.

One of them was Yoh who had recently just shown his affinity to the spiritual world and his ability to take the spiritual power and use it. He had his own samurai spirit called Amidamaru where he could merge with him causing him to have supernatural powers. Yoh was simply tailing behind taking deep sighs as he stared into space with his orange headphones over his ears. He actually hardly listens to his headphones wherein they would simply lie limp on his head. He decided to don his headphones now because of Mr. Jinno's ranting about how much trouble they were in.

The second boy to be part of the fight was Tai Chi. This boy was ruffling his brown spiky hair as he rolled his eyes once more at Mr. Jinno. While Yoh had access to spirits Tai Chi had access to the digital world. He had his own digital partner also known as digimon called Agumon who takes the form of a yellow dinosaur who could spout flames. Tai Chi could call on his digimon with the help of his digivice which is a device that could open the portal between this world and the digital world. Right now Tai Chi's orange colored blue buttoned digivice was simply attached to his clothes but with a quick tug it would be made accessible instantly.

The last one among the three was Natsume. Although not much can be known about Natsume for he is always known as a mysterious figure. He is a guy with a dark personality wherein with just one look he can send people running. They have every reason though for he could be dangerous when he wanted to be which most of the time he does. He controlled the power of fire where he casts flames as he pleased. This boy is something special though wherein his powers are of a great degree and his intelligence is impressive too. Natsume wasn't much of a socialist as he liked to keep his distance from people. He is the type of person who ended up with people disliking him wherein in fact it was he started the fight in the first place. Right now the flame caster simply strayed away from the group but would simply follow at a certain distance. He had heard more than enough of Mr. Jinno's ranting long before this incident.

The rest of the group consisted of their friends, the other four 9th graders and the two 6th graders. There was Sora who had short orange hair and she too had a digivice that was red in color but had yellow buttons. She was able to call on a bird digimon called Biyomon who had wind attacks. Walking closely beside her was Yamato. He had gold spiky hair that reached down to his neck. He had a blue colored white buttoned digivice on his side which could call on his wolf digimon Gabumon who could use ice attacks. Together these two digimons were called on to try to save the forest from burning down. Surprisingly though even with the two digimons they found it hard to completely extinguish the fire. They should have seen this coming since two of the people who participated in the battle did have fire powers.

Following behind Yamato were the two 6th graders. These two six-graders were simply tugging close to the older kids. One of them was named Takeru and he was the younger brother of Yamato. Like Yamato, Takeru had gold hair that was shorter then the length of his brother. Walking closely beside was Hikari. Hikari was the younger sister of Tai Chi. She had light brown hair that was cut at her shoulder.

All of them were looking down on the ground not saying a single word. They only got here and they were already in trouble. They walked quietly with the exception of the sighs and groans that would pop up once in a while.

The last of the group of their friends were Mikan and Ruka. Mikan is a girl with light brown hair which now falls past her shoulders. She has bright brown eyes that would express her emotions and right now her eyes were showing complete anxiety. Mikan is usually a talker but right now she has been completely quiet. The last of the group of friends was Ruka. He is a blond haired boy with blue eyes and he carries a rabbit on his arm at all times. He was walking right beside Mikan but Ruka's eyes which are full of worry did not stray away from the image of his best friend, the flame caster.

"Here we are." Mr. Jinno spoke up breaking the thoughts that were racing through each and everyone's minds. In front of them was a massive building. It was only stories wide but it was built widely. With numerous windows built into the walls of the building the walls seemed to glow from the reflected light of the windows. In front was a sign that held the school name and its emblem. It hung on the wall right on top of double oak doors. The doors had gold handles on them and it really was stunning how they would shine and glitter just like the windows.

Mr. Jinno looked at the group as the new students stared at it and looked at its beauty wherein those who were here in Gakuen Alice wasn't impressed at all. Mr. Jinno spoke once again. "Don't enjoy too much. You won't have any good memories of this place after you're done."

The only reply was a sound of gulps and the rolling of eyes from Natsume, the red-eyed flame caster. Mr. Jinno then turned to open the door and they entered in to see a sitting area. It was as if they entered a waiting area for small clinics.

Mr. Jinno then pointed to an area with couches and tables covered with magazines. "Sit." Mr. Jinno ordered.

Everyone then scattered to sit except for the stubborn black haired, red eyed flame caster. All of them waited as they watched Mr. Jinno walk up to a girl with glasses who was frantically fixing papers that were scattered everywhere.

"Excuse me." Mr. Jinno said but his sudden statement apparently shocked the flustered girl thus causing her to throw the papers in the air and scatter on the floor.

"AHHHH!" She screamed in frustration. "This is the second time!" she said while messing her hair in anger.

Mr. Jinno then looked at the mess around him and bent to pick up some of the scattered paper on the floor. "Would you mind telling the High School Principal that I have students here who need to be punished for some grave matters?" Mr. Jinno said not changing his ever strict and annoyed face.

"Hah! The Principal? He was the reason my desk is like this in the first place!" the girl said practically screaming as her head jerked causing her glasses to droop down to her nose.

"What do you mean?" Mr. Jinno said angrily as lightning crackled on his metal stick.

"The Principal suddenly burst out his room. He gave me quite a scare sending my stuff into such a state. He looked like a mess as if he's just seen a ghost. He then had his bag at his side but the bag looked like it was just stuffed in at the last minute. Anyway he suddenly left without another word. I have no idea when he is coming back." The girl explained.

The kids then looked up happily as they were washed over with happiness and relief. The principal wasn't here. They won't have to face him. Mr. Jinno then caught them at the act of their happiness and turned towards them. He opened his mouth to speak when the door slammed open.

It was a teacher who was holding tight to the wrist of one girl and he was followed by two other girls. "I saw these girls near the site of the fire." The teacher said with difficulty as he was containing the girl who was holding by the wrist. "This one said she wasn't the one at fault but she tried running away and kicked my shin."

The rest of the kids then realized the girl being held against her will was Hitomi. She was struggling as her wavy black hair whipped along with her movements. She looked annoyed and angry. The two other girls were none other than Chihiro and Meruka. Chihiro was smiling and laughing at Hitomi's reaction but when she saw past through her oval eyeglasses and saw the other group of kids her eyes widened and her smile was instantly gone. Meruka on the other hand was staring into space again as she was placing a hand on her forehead. It was as if she was having a migraine and her face was void of any happy emotions.

"Interesting…thank you" Mr. Jinno said to the teacher. "You may go now. I'll deal with them."

"Here." The teacher said releasing her Hitomi who stumbled backwards from her release. "Watch that one. She tried biting me." he said while glaring at her and he then turned and went outside the door.

Mr. Jinno then turned to the three girl and raised his eyebrows. "Well…interesting indeed."

"Mr. Jinno we didn't…" Chihiro started to explain but Mr. Jinno interrupted her before she could.

"Sit!" he commanded to the three girls. Hitomi and Chihiro looked dumbstruck but Meruka brought her hand down from her face then crossed her arms and walked towards the empty lone seat farthest away from the group. Chihiro and Hitomi then grudgingly followed and sat in a small couch closer to the other group.

"My my…" Mr. Jinno said while looking at the group in front of him. "I didn't expect there to be so many accomplices. Funny how all the no-stars are here." The three girls all flinched including Mikan who used to be a no-star. "Is this some anti-alice group from within?"

"We didn't do anything!" Hitomi exclaimed.

"LIES!" Mr. Jinno said as lightning crackled from his metal rod. "How else did the fire start!"

Sadly the group knew how it started. There were having a battle and their power over fire got out of hand. The next thing they knew the fire had grown so big that it was practically uncontrollable. The group couldn't defend themselves they just stayed quiet.

Hitomi, Chihiro and Meruka also stayed quiet. It seemed that the three of them could tell from the tension that the group had something to do with this. Like it or not they knew they were still part of the group.

"Quiet huh?" Mr. Jinno said while looking at each one of them. "All of you guys here are part of all of this. This could have ended up horribly and you caused it. The principal may not be here." Mr. Jinno said look at each one of the students as a single jolt of electricity went through the rod. "I can still give out punishments as I please principal or no principal. In the end you guys are going to think twice before attempting something as stupid as this."


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

**Trees**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Gakuen Alice, Digimon or Shaman King**

**Author's Note: I know it may take forever but I am doing my best. I hope you continue to enjoy and I hope I can be able to do this so much faster. Enjoy!**

**

* * *

**

"I'm telling you! He's crazy!" Hitomi shouted as she and the rest of the group sat in a table together for dinner. "Can you believe starting tomorrow we spend all our free time cleaning up the forest, planting everything back and removing the dead trees by our hands!"

"I always hated Jinno." Mikan said as she was crumpling up her tissue. "I always knew there was something mental about him. Sure he didn't lower our star rankings but to separate us from the other student population because they might get our 'rebellion germs'. Now I can't talk to Hotaru!" she said as she sighed.

All of them including Hikari and Takeru were all sitting in the same table as they were supposed to be divided from everyone else. They all sat in a table that was in the farthest corner of the whole cafeteria. Being the only table singled out thus brought about a lot of stares and gossiping aimed at them. In fact not only will they have to be separated in the cafeteria but all of those infected in the same grade with the 'rebellion germs' would have to sit together in a table at the end of the classroom whenever they have class.

Mikan finally snapped as she saw another person looking at them with the stare and shouted to the whole cafeteria. "WE'RE NOT ANIMALS IN A ZOO! Mind you own business!" Mikan exclaimed as she stood up on her chair and glared at everyone. In the process though, her friends, both the ones in her table and the ones who weren't affected by the 'germs', looked away in embarrassment.

Once Mikan sat down and people stopped staring at them and the group tried conversing once more back to normal. "So…" Takeru said "Back to the punishment…The period of it is pretty long isn't it?"

"Two weeks? Why two weeks?" Tai Chi said as he ruffled his hair and received groans of agreement from his friends Sora and Yamato.

"We should have known it was stupid to fight fire with fire. It literally just makes a bigger flame." Sora sighed in defeat.

"Yeah…I guess we just have to face the facts. There isn't any class tomorrow that means we have to fix the forest the whole day tomorrow." Chihiro pointed out. She said this with a smile though like she relished the thought.

"Umm…Chihiro? Why are you so happy?" Yoh asked in confusion as he saw Chihiro continuously smiling.

"Oh…it's just…can you imagine?" She started is she leaned towards Yoh and Yoh jumped back in surprise. "It's going to be amazing! The breeze of the wind blowing through my hair, the smell of the flowers and the beautiful nature everywhere, I can just taste it!" She said as she closed her eyes and smiled like she was dreaming.

"I can taste the pain and stress already." Hitomi added as she sighed in frustration.

"Wow…" Sora said as she tilted her head in wonder. "I never knew you were such a nature lover. You didn't seem to enjoy it yesterday." Sora concluded.

"Well…that's Chihiro for you. She always loved nature. In fact all three of us do. I guess the reason why Chihiro is suddenly confessing her love is so that she can look at the bright side." Hitomi said as she sighed and shook her head. She then proceeded to eating a clump of rice that was for her dinner. "She always has to look at the 'bright-side'" Hitomi said while doing spirit fingers in bright-side.

"So you're the half-glass full type aren't you?" Yamato said as he was picking up his glass to drink.

"Well…there's nothing wrong with that is there?" Chihiro exclaimed as she smiled and turned towards her food in front of her. She however stuck out her tongue at Hitomi before she did.

"Well…it will be tiring tomorrow won't it?" Mikan said as she picked up her fork. "Don't you think so Ruka?" she asked as she turned to Ruka.

Ruka was looking worriedly at his best friend who sat in the chair farthest from the rest. At first glance one would think Natsume was simply enjoying his gourmet soup. Mikan and Ruka knew better though wherein Natsume was actually eating the soup distractedly. The red-eyed boy was thinking greatly about something and his friends were worrying about it.

"Hey Natsume…" Ruka said ignoring Mikan's question. Everyone in the table then turned to look at Ruka. "Are you okay?" Natsume broke from his reverie and jerked up to look at Ruka. He then glanced at the rest of the table where most of them were looking at him with dislike.

"I'm fine." Natsume said plainly then stood up with his arms pushing him up from his seat. Natsume then turned and left without taking another glance behind him. "Natsume!" Ruka said as he stood up and followed behind him.

Mikan looked at the two and then turned to face the rest of the table. She sent them an apologetic face and smiled a small smile. She then got up and followed the two.

"What in the world do they see in that guy? He's just a mean, grouchy jerk." Tai Chi said as he shook his head and pierced a piece of meat with his fork and ate it.

"Hmmm…actually…I've met people like that before." Yoh said looking at the door where the three exited. "I became friends with a person like him actually. I guess…they're just misunderstood."

"Wow…what are you saying?" Hikari asked "He just seems pretty mean to me." she said while cutting her food.

"I agree with Hikari." Takeru said after he finished drinking his drink.

"Well…I suggest we shouldn't judge him quite yet." Yoh said as he crossed his arms behind his head. He smiled then turned to Chihiro who was smiling at her dish. She then turned to look at him in the eye and smiled at him.

Tai Chi was taking a drink when he turned to look at Meruka. She was sitting at the other end of the table and she was observing the other people who were eating. It seemed like she was spacing out though. Tai Chi then raised his eyebrow as he looked to see that Meruka hadn't touched her food one bit.

"Not hungry…?" Tai Chi said as he looked at Meruka. Meruka jerked up and realized that everyone is peering at her. Meruka then slowly nodded and explained. "I ate a heavy snack." she said and pushed her plate away without saying another word or any change in her pensive expression. Meruka then continued to stare at the other students who are partaking in their mealtime.

Tai Chi noticed that Hitomi and Chihiro were sending constant glances at the girl who seemed to have isolated herself from the rest. Tai Chi couldn't help but observe the girl. There was definitely something about her.

* * *

It was the next day and the punished students lined themselves sleepily outside the dormitories. Mr. Jinno wanted them to be there at five in the morning so that they could make the entire day 'fruitful'. His decision though led to one thing. Their hate for Mr. Jinno increased greatly.

"I hate Mr. Jinno. No questions asked." Yamato said as he leaned on the wall and continuously bumped the back of his head in order to wake up. The sun was still rising so it was still a little dark outside. Nobody wanted to wake up this early especially on a day with no school.

"I feel like I'm back at training with Anna." Yoh said as he yawned while pushing his body up from the wall with his arm as he and the others waited for Mr. Jinno.

"Who in the world is Anna?" Hikari asked as she looked at Yoh after yawning for a while.

"It's a pretty long story. Maybe I'll get to tell you someday. Right now let's just say it isn't the normal type of story you would hear." Yoh said as he struggled to keep awake and his hand made a swatting motion.

"You have your own story don't you?" Takeru said while looking at Yoh. "I guess we're on the same boat. We should exchange stories sometime."

The other past called 'chosen children' simply laughed and smiled as they remembered their adventures from when they were younger. Yoh smiled as he remembered his own and turned to look at Chihiro. His smile slowly died down as he looked to see Chihiro staring into space. Yoh was about to say something when Chihiro woke up from her reverie and saw him staring at her. She then smiled like nothing happened and waved at him. Yoh then turned to look at her two friends. Hitomi was looking at the ground and yawned. Meruka was far from them as usual and she was staring at the woods in front of them. Yoh was curious about what these girls' stories were.

While that whole exchange was going on another was ongoing with Ruka and Mikan. Natsume was leaning his back on the wall and closing his eyes in rest. Mikan and Ruka strayed a little farther from him in order for him not to hear them.

"Natsume is being an idiot again." Mikan said as she sighed and looked at Natsume. "He won't be able to make friends with his stupid attitude."

Ruka looked at his best friend and couldn't help but feel the same way as Mikan. Ruka however knew Natsume's intention. "Mikan…that's just how Natsume is. He has his reasons." Ruka tried to explain but Mikan was as stubborn as ever.

"Well his reasons are stupid." Mikan said as she stomped her foot and looked at Natsume.

"Mikan…you don't even know his reasons." Ruka said as he sighed at his persistent friend.

"I don't need to know! I already know it's stupid! I'm going to fix this! Somehow I will and Ruka, I expect you to help me." Mikan volunteered Ruka without his agreement and grabbed his shoulder and clenched her free hand into a fist as a sign of determination between the partners.

"But Mikan…" Ruka started when the sound of crackling caught the attention of the students who were interacting with one another.

"How good is it that all of you are actually on time." Mr. Jinno said as another crackle sent through his metal rod. "Including the no-stars and one-star."

Mikan twitched at the remark and Chihiro and Yoh had to restrain Hitomi from pouncing on Mr. Jinno. "Well anyway…" Mr. Jinno continued on not noticing the glares sent at him. "With the state of the forest as is, you need to do a lot of work. The damaged area is big so you can't all gather in one area. That is why you must break into pairs and each pair will be given a certain area to fix. So pick your partners and I'll see you guys at dinner time. Don't worry about lunch. You'll find packed food over here. Now I'll be leaving. No questions asked." Mr. Jinno said then gave a list to Tai Chi who was nearest to him. Mr. Jinno then left without another word.

Tai Chi contorted his face in disgust as he watched Mr. Jinno leave. He then looked down to see what the paper was. It contained the areas that needed to be fixed and what the division of areas was. Tai Chi was actually shocked. The affected area was pretty big. Now, he felt complete guilt.

"So…" Sora said taking a glance at the paper in Tai Chi's hands. "We need to pair up huh…" Tai Chi glanced to look at Sora. She was thinking with a hint of worry on her face. He noticed her glancing at Yamato every so often too. Tai Chi knew the exact reason for her reaction. He looked at her, simply took a breath and spoke up.

"I know how we do this! How about you and Yamato go?" Tai Chi said while putting a smile on his face. His suggestion shocked not only Sora but Yamato who was thinking along with Sora.

"Tai Chi…you don't have to." Yamato started to say to his best friend. Tai Chi however didn't let him finish.

"Honestly guys…" Tai Chi said as he waved his hand at both Sora and Yamato who were trying to speak up. "You can't expect it to be just the three of us. We're not attached to the hip you know." Tai Chi said while shooting them with a smile.

"Tai Chi…" Sora said in a worried tone as she lifted her hand to touch Tai Chi's shoulder.

"Hey…" Tai Chi said gently as he sent Sora a sincere smile but his eyes showed weariness. "I'll be fine. Besides I want to get to know our other friends. We can't simply isolate other people right. So…go on." Tai Chi said as he smiled at both Yamato and Sora.

He then pulled the two so they stood beside each other and pushed them towards the woods. The two expressed objections but Tai Chi continued pushing them and they went their way. The two would look back to check on him but they would see him simply smiling and waving at them. They wanted to turn back but Tai Chi already turned to face the other students.

"Big brother, Takeru and I are going together." Hikari said and Tai Chi simply smiled and agreed with the decision.

"Hey Yoh! Want to be partners?" Chihiro exclaimed as she turned to Yoh with a big smile on her face.

"Sure…but we might get lost." Yoh said as he scratched the back of his head when he though of the idea of getting lost.

"Oh don't worry…think of it as part of the adventure." Chihiro exclaimed with joy. With those words being said they too left leaving Tai Chi, Meruka, Hitomi, Mikan and Ruka to partner up.

"OH!" exclaimed as the idea hit her. "Come on Ruka let's go! We're partners!" Mikan exclaimed and started pulling Ruka towards the forest. Ruka didn't understand why Mikan was like this but Natsume saw right through it. If Mikan and Ruka were partners, that would leave him to partner up with one of the others. Natsume was about to say something to object when he saw that they already entered the forest. He was going to have to burn Mikan later and he intends to keep that in mind.

"Oh wow…" Hitomi said as she put her hands on her hips and smirked. She had noticed where the plan was going and she knew that one of them was going to be stuck with Natsume. "Looks like Tai Chi is going to be with…"

Tai Chi however interrupted Hitomi who was simply closing her eyes in relish. "Nice try Hitomi but Meruka is my partner." Tai Chi said while he was moving. Hitomi twitched with what he said and opened her eyes to object and glare when she saw Tai Chi pulling a startled looking Meruka into the forest. Hitomi tried to run but it was too late. Tai Chi and Meruka were already in the forest and it would be useless to try to find them.

Hitomi's eyes twitched and she simply stayed like a statue as she stared at where Tai Chi and Meruka excited. "Hey hot-head." Natsume said coldly with his hands in his pockets. "You better get moving because I'm not waiting for you." Natsume said and started walking towards the forest in front of them.

"I swear Tai Chi. I'm going to snap your neck." Hitomi said as her hands and fingers twitched in anger. "Why did you leave me with him?" Hitomi shouted in anger.

* * *

"So…do you know if we're going the right way?" Yoh asked as he and Chihiro were walking in the forest path.

Chihiro stopped for a second and scanned her surroundings. She then looked at Yoh and smiled. "Nope." She said and continued walking. Normally someone would be outraged and try to wring the person's neck. Luckily Yoh wasn't a normal person. In truth he was just like Chihiro, the happy, calm and ever-optimistic person.

"Hey…" Yoh spoke up as something occurred to him. "What was with you this morning? You, Hitomi and Meruka all looked down for some reason."

Chihiro stopped suddenly and Yoh just for a moment saw her worried and sad looking face. It then bounced back to a smile the next second. "Us?" she said as she turned to smile at Yoh. "We weren't sad it's just we were so tired from last night. We were ranting on Mr. Jinno the whole time. Hitomi loves ranting." Chihiro then started moving once more to their unknown destination.

Yoh knew something was definitely wrong but he couldn't pry. So he might as well get to know the girl, he became friends with, better. "It's amazing how you aren't freaking out about being lost. You have no idea where to go and yet you're enjoying it." Yoh pointed out as he looked at his surroundings.

Chihiro turned at him and smiled. "I just love the idea of not following some regimen. I have no boundaries, no worries and just living." She said happily and expressed it by spinning around in glee. "No matter where we end up it will still be fine for me. The best part of life is about not knowing what happens next and not about having everything planned for you." Chihiro concluded.

Yoh looked at Chihiro with speculating eyes. She was indeed something else and he couldn't help but feel happy with her. She was the total opposite of Anna. While Anna followed strict regimens Chihiro on the other hand doesn't believe in them. Yoh smiled and pondered about how spontaneous life is. He was battling shamans in one second and now he's planting trees.

"Isn't that a little careless." Yoh said after thinking for a few seconds. Chihiro didn't bother looking back or stopping and simply said. "Some things are worth the risk. In the end though, who knows you might just end up exactly how you wished it to be or even better." Chihiro then turned to smile at Yoh then she stopped and took on a puzzled face.

"Hey…is there something wrong?" Yoh asked as he moved towards Chihiro. Chihiro simply put up her hand to signal him to wait. She then patted on her skirt and dug into her pocket in search for something. She pulled out the map which Yoh didn't even know she brought along. She opened the folded up map and looked at it. Her face then broke into a smile.

Chihiro then pointed to an area and Yoh looked to see that see was pointing at a cabin at a short distance. "Do you see that?" she simply said while smiling. Yoh said "Yeah…I do" in reply. Chihiro then turned to him and brandished out the map at him. She then pointed to the location they were assigned to and then a small drawing of what looked like a cabin right beside it.

"I don't believe it." Yoh said in awe as he looked at the map. That meant that they actually reached their area with dumb luck.

"I told you." Chihiro said as she sent a smile at him. "Come on. We're almost there. I can just taste it." She said excitedly as she kept on looking behind at him. "This is going to be fun just spending so much time outside!" she continued looking at him and not at their area. "I just love the forest and the trees. The trees are just beautiful!"

After looking at her though Yoh faced front to look at their area. He stopped still though when he saw the area. Chihiro took on a look of confusion as she saw Yoh's shocked expression. She then turned around to see the area at last. She let out a huge gasp.

Their whole area was completely destroyed. Not a single leaf of grass made it through the fire. It was like some cursed forest with broken and burnt tree trunks surrounding them. The ground was covered with ashes and seemed to expand for a long stretch of land. Jinno wasn't exaggerating. A huge amount of land was indeed affected. She could swear she saw another pair at the very far area from their vision. Who knows how big the damage actually is?

Chihiro was shocked though. She didn't know the devastation was this great. She pursed her lips and walked over to one of the damaged and burnt tree trunks.

"Um…Chihiro…Are you okay?" Yoh asked as he walked towards her. Chihiro reached the tree and touched its trunk. She ran her hand over the trunk and smiled a sad smile. Yoh knew that there was some kind of story behind Chihiro and maybe even her friends. He knows however that he will find out when the time is right and he shouldn't force it out of her.

Yoh them smiled a small smile and walked to where Chihiro is. "Don't you think trees are incredible?" Yoh said as he smiled at Chihiro and Chihiro turned to look at him. "They die and we cut them down for selfish reasons. They burn easily in fires and can be brought down by storms. However the tree is really an admirable thing. They stand through time and the errors of mankind. It gives itself fully with no regrets only to continue living on with a newer generation which in turn gives itself once again. The tree is like the ultimate optimist and giver. It never asks of anything in return. It simply gives and bounces up from whatever happened to them." Yoh concluded.

"It's a disaster indeed what happened here but the beauty of it is that it can be fixed. As long there is a single tree standing in the world then the trees will still be able to live. They're not quitters and as human beings we should do our part to support them. So what do you say about helping their burden and help return the majestic and selfless trees back to their glory."

Chihiro simply looked up at Yoh and smiled back. "What are we waiting for." she said as she ran towards the seedlings of trees that was placed at the side. Yoh smiled as he watched Chihiro scuttle to the area with plants and placed his hand on one of the branches of the tree Chihiro was touching. He jerked his hand back quickly though. He felt something weird touch his hand and when he turned he was shocked. Right there on the branch was a little flower, unharmed. He could have sworn everything died but for some reason this flower survived. Yoh couldn't help but look at the flower curiously but Chihiro broke his concentration.

"Hey slow poke!" Chihiro called over causing Yoh to twitch in surprise. "I bet I can plant faster then you can." She smiled then turned to the seedlings.

Yoh smiled and laughed. Life is indeed a mystery but just as Chihiro said that's what makes it worth it. No matter the twists and turns he'll have to enjoy what life has to offer.

Yoh however didn't know how much life did have in store for him. He wouldn't have ever known that what happened would affect his life greatly.

* * *

**I made this one long for you guys! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! My New Year's resolution would be faster postings! Hope you enjoyed!**


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

**Wither**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Gakuen Alice, Digimon or Shaman King**

**Author's Note: Hello again. I finally got time to write a new chapter. Never do nowadays. So here you go!**

"I swear I'm going to strangle Tai Chi when I see him." thought a very frustrated Hitomi. Hitomi was stuck with the very grouchy and moody Natsume Hyuuga. The person who caused a fight in the first place and got them stuck with this punishment.

"Hey ugly…hurry up!" Natsume called behind him as he was meters ahead of Hitomi. He didn't even bother to stop for her and kept on walking. Hitomi wished she could just crush him into little bits for calling her ugly. This guy is obviously just plain rude no questions asked.

Hitomi was definitely not enjoying this. If Tai Chi didn't take away her partner then she wouldn't have been stuck with this brat. She just dreads the idea of spending the day with Mr. Hot-head not to mention doing the cleaning and fixing the forest. She can just imagine how she would be left alone to clean all alone because the-oh-so great Natsume would probably slack off. However Hitomi being Hitomi wouldn't take any of that type of action. She decided to make it clear to Natsume straight off and putting her foot down before he just dozes off. Once she decided she quickened her pace to catch up to Natsume who was still meters away and she then thought of what she was going to say.

Hitomi quickly walked towards Natsume, dodging the rocks and twigs of the forest. She lost sight of Natsume for a while though, as a cluster of trees blocked her view but she quickly evaded them in order for her to reach her destination, Natsume. She knew she would get to tell him off soon and was even tempted to run frantically when Natsume suddenly stopped abruptly.

Hitomi was surprised to this sudden act and from her pace slowed down in confusion until she finally reached Natsume. Not being able to stop herself from a jibe she said "Hey idiot if you don't know how to walk it's simple. You just start with one foot forward then…" and that's when Hitomi saw the forest. She didn't realize it but she was in a stand-still herself. Her eyes widened and she gasped at the destruction before her. It was no wonder that no one decided to help them when Mr. Jinno was punishing them. The destruction is just incredible. Although the forest may seem undamaged from the outer view, you can't imagine how huge the space is in between.

Hitomi fumbled for her map and when she took it out she took a sharp intake of breath. Everything around her, all the destruction was only hers and Natsume's portion to fix. She didn't understand. It didn't seem to be that big in the map. The destruction wasn't as big in comparison to the forest itself unless the forest is just really gigantic then that would make sense. She in the end just gaped and in doing so dropped the map in absence of thought.

Natsume simply stared along with her. He stopped and couldn't imagine how incredible the damage's extent is. He suddenly thought the unavoidable "Did he really do this." Natsume snapped out of his thoughts though once he saw Hitomi drop the map on the floor. He looked down at it and it didn't take long for him to realize just how much bigger the affected area is. He and Hitomi had to take care of this large mass however there were six pairs in charge of this. That meant that the forest was six times worse then what they saw. He couldn't help but imagine all those images from when he was eight. He remembered the village as it was in a sea of flames. Though people said it wasn't his fault he knew better. He should have stopped it. He should have been there for her and now he's stuck here.

Natsume caught himself in his thoughts. He didn't want to think about that, definitely not. It was in the past and no way is he going to open himself to such vulnerability. He was going to tell his hot tempered partner to get a move on and start working when he turned to see her. His eyes widened as he looked at her face.

Hitomi's face was definitely not a face he wanted to see. It was a face full of hurt. He watched as she looked at the fields that were now deforested. He saw her eyes dart back and forth and heard her sharp breaths that sounded more like sobs as time passed by. Natsume had no idea who this girl was however he knew deep down that this isn't how she usually reacts. He would get distracted by her loud tantrums that would compare to those of a certain brown-eyed brunette. He didn't need to know her completely to figure out she was the type who wanted to act strong. However those eyes and those expressions on her face betrayed her of whatever strength she was supposed to show.

Natsume didn't know how long he looked at Hitomi till she finally closed her eyes and took a deep breath. With that she opened her eyes once more and Natsume was surprised to see all signs of hurt completely gone. Hitomi's face went back to the normal strong and determined face. She then bent down and took up her map and started walking as if nothing happened.

Hitomi didn't bother to tell Natsume straight off like what she planned to do. It was needless. She was going to get this done whether he helps or not. With that resolution, Hitomi quickly found the materials needed for her to fix the area. She was surprised though to hear footsteps following at her heels. She took a quick glance and saw Natsume right behind her. She turned back, spared a small smile, took up the shovels and sacks and got to work, with Natsume doing the same.

The two simply continued to do their work in silence. The silence was broken though when Hitomi couldn't help but remark on the situation. "You know with you doing things like this your bad grouchy boy reputation will die out." She remarked smirking at him. However Natsume replied with a "hmph."

To Hitomi's surprise he kept on talking. "Let them think what they want." Hitomi then stopped what she was doing to look at Natsume fully. "Assumptions are all dependent on a person. It doesn't make it true so whether, jerk or kind I don't care. I know who I am and I don't need anyone telling me otherwise."

After his exchange Hitomi couldn't help but see Natsume differently. Maybe there was more to him. Then he had to continue talking. "Hey ugly, there's no need for you to slack off. At the slow rate you're going it will take forever." Hitomi felt herself snapping. She had to take some time to gather her thoughts on the supposedly nice Natsume before deciding to smash him into a pulp. In the end she simply didn't say a thing and walked farther away to resist temptations.

As she walked away Natsume couldn't help but watch her through the sidelines. He was curious with Hitomi. He knew Hitomi was feeling great pains and yet she wipes it away like it was nothing. He couldn't help but feel a connection in that aspect. After all he was doing it right now.

As Hitomi had her back to him Natsume stopped and glanced at his palm. His very own hands created fire that in the end caused such great amounts of destruction. How he remembered those who accused him of such things. They all believed that he was a person meant to destroy but he knew it wasn't true, however how can he say about himself now. Natsume thought of the chances that someone could have gotten hurt. He endangered lives for a meager reason.

Natsume scanned the deforested area and was bothered with thoughts of regret. He wondered constantly, was he actually the cause for all this destruction. Did he actually use his accursed power to do this? Natsume simply clutched his fist and gazed at the ground littered with the ashes and dead leaves. Everything just brought back those memories once again.

"I'm really sorry Meruka that I dragged you but I just didn't want to get stuck with Natsume." Tai Chi said as he and Meruka were on their way to their area.

Meruka however didn't reply and kept on walking forward. Tai Chi noticed that she wasn't much for talking. She hardly would talk and after the whole fire incident it seemed as if it got even worse then before. Tai Chi didn't even know that it was possible. "You know…is there something wrong? I know I kinda pulled you by force and I'm sorry for that. If you want we can try to search for Hitomi and I guess I'll just put up with Natsume." Tai Chi suggested despite the fact that he despised the very idea. To Tai Chi's surprise though he heard Meruka laugh a small laugh and her face cracked into a tiny smile.

She then faced Tai Chi and with the faintest bit of a smile and spoke to him. "I shouldn't be the one to worry about. Hitomi would try to strangle you." She said as her smile grew once again by the tiniest bit. Apparently it seemed quite humorous to her.

Tai Chi looked at her and smiled along with her. In truth he really hadn't spoken to Meruka like this. She was usually the quiet type. Not to mention he would never really see Meruka smile. Sure Hitomi also hardly smiled but Hitomi was the irritable type. She would glare and smirk evilly to show enjoyment. Meruka on the other hand seems like a person who kept to herself. Seeing her smile was really something that wouldn't be seen easily.

Suddenly Meruka stopped in her tracks though and Tai Chi watched as her smile died and what was replaced was a sad frown. He watched as her eyes widened and she started running. Tai Chi didn't understand until he looked ahead. They haven't reached their area yet but they were close enough to see from afar. Tai Chi in the end couldn't help but take a sharp intake of breath. He watched as Meruka ran towards the devastation. It was truly such a horrid sight that Tai Chi hadn't even realized that he was running too. He stopped at the very edge of the area and scanned the whole mass of land. The massiveness of it all shocked him and he felt his heart grow heavy as he thought of the fact that he may have been the one who did this.

Tai Chi took deep breaths, not realizing how quickly he ran to reach here. He looked at the debris that lined up in front of him. As he was scanning someone caught his attention. It was Meruka who was standing on the debris and bending down to touch the ground. Tai Chi saw the items needed to clean up and took them with him. He slowly walked towards Meruka and handed her the cleaning materials. When Meruka turned however to face him he was shocked to see not hurt or pain but simply nothing. Her head just looked up at him with eyes that seemed to be void of emotion. She stood up, took her stuff and carried on as if nothing happened at all.

Tai Chi simply watched her with curiosity. Meruka ran to the area so quickly. Tai Chi could see the ashes on the palm of her hand as she placed her hand on the ground. Tai Chi expected sadness and hurt and yet he was surprised somehow to see simply nothing. He knew though that Meruka wasn't simply feeling indifference. She wouldn't have run and wouldn't have stood in the middle just for no reason. She wouldn't have dirtied up her hands to simply adore the feel of ash. He saw her expression and he won't take it as nothing.

"Hey Meruka…you know what. I think you don't look so well. I suggest you better go back to the dorm and rest up. You might get worse." Tai Chi said to her. Though she looked perfectly fine Tai Chi decided that this area is affecting her more than she let on.

Tai Chi watched as Meruka bit her lip and clutched the rake used to clean up the products of the fire. To Tai Chi's surprise though Meruka quickly turned to Tai Chi and narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't think that you can make me go so easily." she said as she shook her head at him. "I know what you're doing but I'm fine. I'm not saying I'm happy but don't expect me to burst out in tears." Meruka then started walking farther away from him.

The boy simply narrowed his eyes at her retreating figure. "Please…don't think you can fool me either. You're obviously not fine. You can't hide that expression from me. I don't know who you really are but it's obvious that you're not taking this well. I don't know why. It may be some past experience or you may be some super nature lover but you can't simply say that you're fine. Don't bother hiding it!" Tai Chi said as he walked towards her and she turned around facing him. She once again narrowed her eyes at him.

"Like you have any right to say that. Didn't you do the same to your two friends? I could see right through you. You were hurt and yet you simply let them off. You hid your true feelings just for them." Meruka said. Tai Chi's eyes then widened in surprise and he uttered no reply.

Meruka continued to glare at Tai Chi until she saw Tai Chi's face turn into a face of confusion. Meruka then took a small breath and her face softened. She then turned towards her work once again. To her surprise though, Tai Chi spoke once again. "Man…Was it really that obvious." Tai Chi said and Meruka turned around quickly in confusion and was shocked to see Tai Chi saying it with a smile.

Meruka in confusion asked "So…you're just admitting it and happy about it nonetheless?" Meruka just looked at Tai Chi and Tai Chi simply chuckled.

"It's no big deal. So you saw it. It's fine. I just don't want those two figuring it out. Although I'm guessing they already know what I'm doing but it was worth a shot." Tai Chi said while smiling.

Meruka said while shaking her head. "You're weird you know that. I have no idea why you're all happy. You obviously are pretending for a reason and people can see that you are fake. You're just going to give up on that act so quickly?"

"Well…like you said. It's an act. It isn't reality. It's not something to be sad about. It's actually great you know. Just letting people see who you really are without anything hiding you. I personally would want to see that." Tai Chi said while smiling. "That's why I decided on something right now."

Meruka raised an eyebrow at what he said. "Oh really…and what is that thing you decided?" she asked in curiosity

Tai Chi then smiled and chuckled as he got Meruka's interest. "I can see it Meruka. You're hiding and I promise I'm going to see you for what you are. So be warned." He said and chuckled.

Meruka's eyes widened and she slowly shook her head as her lips broke to a small smile. "You might as well quit. I can assure you that it won't be possible." She said while turning and going back to her work.

Tai Chi couldn't help but smile as he saw her smile once again. He didn't know why but he enjoyed it. So Tai Chi was set on the task of knowing Meruka truthfully. He would have to spend time with her but judging about how this time went, he knew it would be interesting.

Tai Chi then started cleaning up and as a start he planned to sweep the ground in order to remove the ashes. He got the broom and a sack and started sweeping the piles of ashes into the sack. He was barely on his second pile when something caught his eye. He saw a speck of yellow just inches away from the pile of ashes he was cleaning. Tai Chi raised an eyebrow in curiosity and investigated that piece of yellow. He pinched the yellow to find out it was a flower petal. He was going to pick it up and when he did to his surprise more flower petals were uncovered. His eyes widened and he began to sweep away the ash near the flower. He took a sharp intake of breath as he uncovered a whole, live flower that was covered by the ash. Tai Chi turned his head around and the area around him was completely burned down. The next sign of plant life was meters away. Tai Chi simply looked at the flower that was still in full bloom. This frail flower had somehow survived the destruction. The question was how.


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

**Who?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice, Digimon or Shaman King.**

**Author's Note: It's unbelievable how to find spare time. It's summer and I promised to post at least two…or maybe three. I just hope that you enjoy this story. :D**

* * *

"BAM!" the door went as it was slammed right open. The secretary then slowly looked up in fear from the papers that have been scattered all over the floor. Her eyes widened as she realized who the person in the doorway was. It was none other than the Principal who has been absent for two weeks. Her eyes scanned his appearance, and she noticed the Principal's stubble of a beard, his baggy eyes that were red apparently from lack of sleep, and his wrinkled clothes. The secretary then dropped her eyes at the suitcase the Principal was carrying. Before the secretary could comment on anything else, the Principal zoomed past her and went straight to his office. He entered his office with the door slamming right after him.

In the office, the Principal, in frustration, shoved off all the things on top of his desk. He then proceeded to drop his suitcase on top of the desk and slamming his hands on the desk. The Principal then collapsed on his chair and laid his head in his hands. He had an enormous headache. He couldn't help but think how horrendous these past two weeks turned out. The panic that rose through all of the organizations was just crazy. To think, he had always hoped that it was some crack-pot story. Now, he has to start with the plan which he can't fail. At least, this plan is more understandable and peaceful compared to the others. If he does fail, however, things could go horribly wrong and the organizations might have to do drastic measures.

The Principal ran a hand through his hair. "There's no room failure." he said as he remembered those words being told to him. The Principal then sighed and walked up to a buzzer for his secretary. He then pressed the button and began to speak. "Chikako…" he said to call his secretary's attention. On the other side he could hear rustling and then the secretary replied "yes, sir.".

"Can you give me the names of the students who were involved in the fire accident." He said as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Right away, sir." The secretary replied. The Principal then headed towards his suitcase and clipped it open. Once he did, a bright light flashed towards him. The Principal gingerly picked up the stone that was glowing so brightly. There is no doubt about it. It only glowed like this when it entered the academy. They've been found out. Everyone now knows that the Dark Conquerors have arrived and are right now at this academy. The whole world may be at their mercy.

* * *

"I'm so tired!" Mikan complained as she stretched about. "I can't believe that it's been two whole weeks and yet we've only fixed about one-sixth of the land that was burned." She said this to Ruka and Natsume as they were entering the premises of the cafeteria.

"Maybe if you weren't yapping and complaining, we would have done more progress." Natsume said as he looked at her and continued walking on with his hands in his pockets. Mikan glared at him and stuck a tongue at him.

"How about the fact that it was your fault in the first place? The oh-so-great Natsume Hyuuga can't even control his stupid power!" Mikan said as she shouted at him.

At that moment, Natsume stopped walking and lazily looked at her. "Psshh look who's talking! Miss no-star. You couldn't even control your power back then and who was it again you asked help from?" Natsume said while narrowing his eyes at her. Mikan flinched as she remembered all the times she tried nullifying his fire. It was a very painful memory and now he was gloating about it. Mikan couldn't help but stomp her foot and edged her face forward in order to glare at him in a closer distance.

"Um…come on guys…how about we take a seat first and maybe eat." Ruka said as he tried to pacify the situation. They would always have silly fights like these and to think that Mikan is actually supposed to show other people that Natsume wasn't all that bad. He would have to stop this fight before it gets ugly. However, this time Ruka should have learned when the right time to pacify is. Mikan suddenly turned to him and sent him an electrifying glare. Ruka couldn't help but feel a little shocked. "SHUSH it bunny boy! Now stop acting like a Bugs Bunny and stay out of it!" Mikan shouted at him as she turned to glare at Natsume once again.

"Hey guys!" Sora suddenly came forward from the entrance of the cafeteria to greet Mikan and Ruka but stopped her cheery smile that she had been wearing when she realized the situation. "Mikan? Are you fighting with the hot head boy? You should really stop associating with him if you keep on fighting with him anyway." Sora said as she crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at him. Sora and all the other gang are still touchy when it comes to Natsume. In all honesty, it's not like he tried anything to change their opinion of him.

Natsume simply rolled his eyes. "Put a cork on it red-head. Why won't you just go ahead to your boyfriend and play with your pixelized pets." Natsume said as he continued walking away to the table.

Sora's eye twitched. "Must you always be so hostile?" Sora shouted at him in anger. Before Sora decided to strangle him, Ruka then stepped in front of Sora in order to break her sizzling glare at Natsume. "I apologize for my friend." Ruka said apologetically and then turned at his heels to where Natsume was walking. It seems that Ruka has to always be in charge of stopping Natsume's fights. It could turn disastrous for whoever goes against Natsume.

"Honestly Mikan…" Sora said after sighing. She then turned her head slowly at Mikan and shook her head. "Of all people…why befriend him? He's no good." Sora said.

Mikan then looked up and looked at Sora. "Sora…" Mikan began. "HEY GUYS!" Tai Chi said with a huge smile as he walked in between Sora and Mikan. Mikan and Sora gasped a huge gasp due to shock. Sora in irritation slammed her fist to his head. "Honestly Tai Chi, why do you have to be so idiotic sometimes?" The two girls glanced up to see Yamato was right behind Tai Chi.

"Come on let's eat." Yamato said as he nodded towards the table and Sora & Tai Chi consented. The three of them walked towards the table together. "Well isn't that interesting?" Yoh suddenly said and Mikan screamed out in shock at his sudden entrance.

"Great! Is it 'Scare Mikan to Death' day! Haven't you guys heard about the word called 'sounds'." Mikan said as she glared at him. "Sorry…it's just as if they remind me of you, Ruka and Natsume." Yoh said while smiling. He then turned to Mikan but received a punch to his forehead. "You idiot! No way would Ruka be as silly as Tai Chi and Sora & Yamato are obviously dating. There's no way that's happening between Natsume and I"

"It's so obvious that you guys are acting practically like a couple. You can definitely see that as a comparable point." Yoh said happily but received another punch to his head as a reply.

Mikan was about to kick him when someone pulled her back. She was rampaging but saw that Chihiro was the one holding her back. "Um…sorry Mikan but Yoh is still my friend." Chihiro said apologetically at Mikan who continued to struggle. Right behind Chihiro was Hitomi and Meruka who were simply looking at what was happening with interest.

"Let go of me!" Mikan said as she squirmed. "I swear I'll teach that boy to simply make stupid analogies like that." Mikan said as she clutched her fist really tight and brandished it to Yoh. Yoh was simply rubbing the parts where Mikan hit him. "Honestly Mikan, it isn't that much of an offense."

"Why? What did he say Mikan?" Hitomi asked as she stretched. Mikan glared at him in anger. "He compared me and Natsume to Sora and Yamato. As if, we were a couple."

Hitomi gasped with disgust. "Kill Him!" Hitomi then glared at the unsuspecting Yoh. "That was a huge and complete insult." she said as she took one step forward. Hitomi only got as far as balling her fist when Meruka pulled her away from Yoh.

"You understand why I feel like kicking him in the shins!" Mikan said as she struggled at Chihiro's arms. "He's obviously not in the right state of mind. A little pounding will surely clear that up!" Not surprisingly, what she said only made Chihiro tighten her grip.

"Let her go! That jerk head deserves what he's getting to him. Give him a good strangling after beating him up." Hitomi said as she shot another glare at Yoh.

"Why are you so angry about it? Do you like him or something?" Yoh asked Hitomi in confusion. Luckily, Meruka saw it coming and grabbed Hitomi's arms before it could strangle the life out of Yoh. "LET ME GO! I'LL STRANGLE HIM MYSELF!"

Both girls struggled at the arms of their restrainers. "YOH! Run while you can!" Chihiro said as she tried to hold on. "We can only delay them for so long!"

Yoh didn't need to be told twice as he quickly darted for the exit. The two restrainers decided to release the two fidgeting girls after what seemed like a fair head-start for Yoh. With no surprise, the two offended girls darted through the doors. While doing so, Chihiro and Meruka could hear certain words concerning with strangling and beating up Yoh.

After shaking their heads, Chihiro and Meruka then advanced towards their cafeteria table that was isolated from the rest of the student body. Their friends greeted them and couldn't help but ask what happened to Yoh and the other two girls.

"Let's just say that if we hadn't heard of Yoh in three hours, we should send out a search team for his body." Chihiro joked as Sora worried about what will happen to Yoh. "It's a shame though if he dies. We were supposed to check out this new movie tomorrow." Chihiro then drifted to the seat beside Sora.

Meruka drifted towards her seat that was at the end of the table. It seemed as if Meruka and Natsume just enjoyed sitting in those chairs farthest away from the group. Natsume now however, usually sits beside Ruka and sometimes Mikan, and they were surrounded by empty chairs in the long cafeteria table. Meruka on the other hand stayed completely by herself in the seat that was at the very end. She's been doing that ever since the fire incident. Her friends just simply say that Meruka is like that and she has moments like these. Apparently Chihiro and Hitomi just decided to respect her decision.

It didn't sit well with Tai Chi though who was sitting at the opposite end of the table. He was surrounded with his friends. He had Yamato on his right side. Sora sat right beside Yamato and on Tai Chi's left were Hikari and Takeru. They were laughing and enjoying the meal along with Chihiro. Even Hitomi, Mikan, and Yoh would be enjoying with them if they weren't busy with their cat and mouse chase. Heck, he could even see Natsume smiling with Ruka at times. Meruka on the other hand didn't seem to be enjoying at all when she sat there. It wasn't as if she was depressed either. It seemed like she was just null. Tai Chi can't even see her eating her meals sometimes. The last time he saw her actually eating meals would be in her first few days of school. Right at that moment, she seemed to be absorbed in some book.

Tai Chi drank from his glass and eyed Meruka. Once he put his glass down, he started to get up when his eyes met Chihiro's. Chihiro looked puzzled then turned to see what he was looking at and realization dawned on her face. She then turned to look at Tai Chi with a sympathetic look. Chihiro shook her head slowly. It was simple to understand. She was telling him that it would be useless to try. Tai Chi couldn't help but notice the look in Chihiro's eyes that seemed to want to explain more.

Chihiro then glanced back at her food and stuck a piece of food into her mouth and chewed at it slowly. Tai Chi stayed frozen as he started to wonder about Chihiro. How many times was she burdened about Meruka? From the look in her eyes, it felt like this happens on a regular occasion. Chihiro is usually the happy type but just the way how Chihiro looked at him it felt like there was something more to her. Just like Meruka… Tai Chi then glanced back up at the girl who was still reading.

Tai Chi made up his mind and stood up from his chair. That called up the attention from the rest of the table. All of them were wondering what he was doing. He could see Chihiro shaking her head as a way to tell him to stop while he can. He could see Ruka and Natsume looking up with interest and even Meruka peeking up from her book.

Tai Chi then walked up towards Meruka and pulled out the chair beside her and sat on it. Meruka lowered down the book and looked at Tai Chi with curiosity. "You do realize that you haven't eaten any of you food." Tai Chi said as he pointed to Meruka's meal. Meruka simply looked down at the food and looked back at Tai Chi with confusion.

"I'm not hungry tonight." Meruka said slowly to Tai Chi. She then started to continue reading her book. Tai Chi shook his head. "Is that so? So tell me when there is a night where you are actually hungry?" Tai Chi said as he crossed his arms in front of his chest and lounged back into the chair. He eyed Meruka as she slowly looked up from the book with a sigh. Meruka's eyes then looked at Tai Chi with frustration. "I guess I'm not a big eater or anything." Meruka concluded coldly and she went back to her book.

Tai Chi could have sworn he heard Chihiro mumble 'crash and burn'. Tai Chi couldn't help but narrow his eyes at Meruka who was still reading her book. He then quickly raised his hand and snapped Meruka's book shut and grabbed it from her grip. Meruka replied with a gasp of disbelief. Now Tai Chi was sure it was Chihiro who mumbled because he heard her again say 'oh boy…'.

Meruka glared at Tai Chi but Tai Chi simply returned his glared and pushed the plate of food towards Meruka. "Did you know that there are people starving everyday? Some people don't even have a single grain of rice in their stomachs such as the children in Africa. Now here you are. You are wasting a completely perfect meal. So Meruka…just think of what would the children of Africa do if they were in your situation." Tai Chi concluded as he looked at Meruka in the eye.

After what Tai Chi said though, Meruka sighed in defeat and picked up a fork. She then proceeded to eat her food. He even heard Chihiro mumbling sentences of disbelief. Tai Chi smugly put the confiscated book beside Meruka. He then stood up to walk to his end of the table. While doing so, everybody's eyes were all on him including Meruka's that were full of frustration. Tai Chi then sat back down on his chair and continued eating his food like nothing happened.

"Hey guys!" Mikan's voice broke through the tension that just built up. Everybody looked up to see Mikan and Hitomi standing in front of them.

Chihiro's eyes widened. "Did you kill him?" Chihiro's face turned pale as she stood up. Sora who sat beside her couldn't help but see Chihiro's hand clutch tighter.

Hitomi looked at Chihiro with frustration. "No…we couldn't freaking find him." Sora watched as Chihiro's face slowly gained back her color. "We only came back because we wanted to eat. Mikan and I are starving, and we deemed it useless. We can always get him tomorrow morning." Hitomi and Mikan were about to get settled into their seats when Hitomi froze due to the sight see saw.

"Meruka?" Hitomi asked in disbelief. "Are you actually eating?". True enough Meruka was there holding her fork that carried a clump of rice. Even Mikan couldn't help but gasp and point it out. "She is! She is!" Mikan said as she jumped up and down.

Meruka rolled her eyes and exhaled in frustration as she stuck the clump in her mouth. She then chewed thoroughly as she looked at the gaping Mikan and Hitomi with contempt. The rest of the table could sense that Meruka was probably imagining the clump of food as someone's head.

Hitomi couldn't help but feel confused and her face was full of disbelief. She then turned to Chihiro and the two looked at each other and talked through facial expressions. Chihiro told expressed how she was just as shocked with a raise of both eyebrows.

"Believe it." Chihiro said as she shook her head as if she was still trying to convince herself. Hitomi mouthed "How?" as she shook her head. Chihiro then turned her head towards the guy sitting at the other end of the table. "Tai Chi…" she mouthed. Hitomi looked at Tai Chi with wide eyes that seemed to reflect some kind of new found respect.

Tai Chi couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable as Chihiro and Hitomi looked at Tai Chi. Their gazes were full of disbelief and appreciation. It couldn't possibly that great. All he did was make Meruka eat a hearty meal for once. Her two friend's gazes seemed to show much more appreciation than needed for that act. That was it. He definitely knew that something is up with these three girls.

The tension building up was stopped when Meruka herself spoke irritably. "Oh come on!" she said as she shook her head. "I'm only eating! For goodness sake!" she said and to strengthen her point she took another bite. "Oooohhh…be shocked…" she said sarcastically. She then took up her book and got up. "I'm going back up." and with that she left the cafeteria.

Chihiro went back towards her meal as she just picked through it. Hitomi looked down at her hands that were placed on top of the chair she was supposed to sit on. All the people in the table eyed the two. They could notice as Hitomi clutched the head of the chair and Chihiro would completely freeze from what she was doing but her eyes were deep in concentration.

Hitomi then nudged Chihiro. Hitomi looked at her friend and could tell that she was bothered as she was. Hitomi smiled wryly and mouthed that she was going up. She needed to talk to Meruka. Chihiro was about to stand up to join but Hitomi stopped her. The two looked at each other and Chihiro knew that she had to stay. Without another word Hitomi left to go up to their room.

Chihiro then turned and plastered a smile at them. She then turned to Tai Chi and looked at him with an intensified look. "Who in the world are you?" she said as she laughed and shook her head. "You have no idea how long we tried to get her to eat more than a morsel. I should have realized that kids in Africa would work." She said happily.

Everybody in the table couldn't help but feel surprised. Here Chihiro was smiling and laughing. The thing was even if they looked at her eyes, no one could see the hurt in them. Not a single trace. If Chihiro could so easily mask her feelings that easily and simply jump off topic, then how many times had she felt horrible and no one would notice. Everybody decided to continue on like nothing happened. Surprisingly, it actually worked. Before they knew it, they were smiling, laughing and making jokes again.

In the end though, no matter how much fun they were having. No one can quite forget the look in Chihiro's and Hitomi's eyes. Who are they really? What are they hiding?


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

**Called Out**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice, Digimon or Shaman King.**

**Author's Note: Hey there guys! Here's another one. I know I've been really slow but this is what summer laziness does to you. Not to mention my review classes. :P Well here you go**

* * *

'Darkness…That was it. Nothing but darkness surrounded me. Its coldness seeping to my skin, leaving me wanting to take in huge amounts of breaths as it suffocated me. I tried to reach out to something—anything. I brought up my hand when I saw it disperse. My arm followed a suit, dispersing into nothing. I was disappearing into the very darkness I dread.'

Tai Chi woke up with a start. He looked around his surroundings to see that he was in his room. He shakily brought up his hand and exhaled his breath that he had been holding. His hand and arm were still there. They were both still intact. Tai Chi then ran his hand through his hair and closed his eyes as he tried to shake away his nightmare. He looked at his clock to see that it was only five in the morning. He knew he couldn't fall asleep even if he wanted to so he proceeded to get dressed and take an early morning walk.

Tai Chi exited his room but was shocked to see that someone was already out in the hall. Yoh was there looking out of the window that was placed in the end of the hallway. Tai Chi moved towards him with curiosity and he could see Yoh twitch as he heard his approach. Yoh then quickly turned with widened eyes to see who was the person?

Yoh's shoulders relaxed as he realized that it was Tai Chi. Tai Chi couldn't help but notice Yoh's disheveled hair and his eye bags. 'It's like Yoh saw a ghost. On the other hand, Yoh does see ghosts as a normal occurrence. Doesn't his alice have something to do with spirits?' Tai Chi wondered.

It was Yoh who broke the silence first. "Up early huh?" he asked as he turned back to the window.

"Yup…" Tai Chi replied as he too looked out the window. "I had a restless night. Couldn't get back to sleep." He concluded and heard Yoh chuckle.

"Well look at that…that makes two of us." Yoh said as he grinned back at Tai Chi. "So tell me…did this restless night contain a certain nightmare?" Yoh asked as he reminisced on his own nightmare.

Tai Chi tensed up. "So you had one too huh?" Tai Chi said in mild shock and in curiosity. Yoh's hands twitched. He looked at Tai Chi and noticed how Tai Chi had a tired look on his face. Yoh studied him then exhaled his breath. He then proceeded to sit down and leaned his back onto the wall. Tai Chi strolled over and sat beside him.

"Honestly…I don't usually get bad dreams." Yoh said conversationally. 'Sometimes I think it's because I've already experienced horrible things in real life.' Yoh couldn't help thinking to himself as he remembered what happened in the past. That dream really shook him. He actually saw _him_ again. It felt so real too. It was as if he was in his presence and he was there watching him wherever he went.

Tai Chi broke Yoh's concentration on the past. "Me neither…" Tai Chi said as he chuckled. "It's actually the first time I'm awake like this just because of a stupid dream." He said while running a hand through his hair. Tai Chi broke a smile and started lifting himself up. Yoh simply watched him with curiosity.

"Well it's useless to worry about a dream. I was going to take an early walk. You wanna join me?" Tai Chi asked Yoh. Yoh broke into a smile too and got up to stand by Yoh. "Sure! I don't mind walking while the sun rises." Yoh laughed.

Tai Chi smiled even wider. "However, we can not be caught doing this." Tai Chi said jokingly. "People are going to speculate when they see two guys walking in the sunrise." Tai Chi said as he jolted towards the stairs, leaving Yoh behind. Yoh laughed and jolted down the stairs after him.

The two went down and continued their walk. Though the two boys scanned the area for people to see if the coast was clear, there was still one person who caught the two taking their stroll. A certain flame caster eyed the two from his window. He too, was wide awake and he sat at his window sill to wait for the coming sunrise.

* * *

"There you guys are!" Chihiro said happily as she saw the advancing figures of Tai Chi and Yoh. Chihiro waved happily, not realizing that she whacked somebody on the head while doing so. She then skipped towards them with a huge smile which suddenly dropped down to a smile of confusion. Her eyebrows scrunched up as she thought of something. She then jolted up and poked Yoh's chest. "I'm supposed to remind you of something." Chihiro said as she tried to remember.

Tai Chi and Yoh looked at each other. Both of them couldn't help but feel confused with what Chihiro was saying. "And what is this something?" Yoh asked after a waiting for Chihiro to speak up, which she didn't.

Chihiro opened her mouth to say it but closed it once again. "Umm…I kinda forgot." Chihiro said as she placed a hand to her forehead. Tai Chi couldn't help but snort in amusement. Chihiro looked at Tai Chi with a raised eyebrow. "Well sorry! What do people think I am? I'm not some messenger bird that just passes information to and fro. Do I look like a bird to you?" Chihiro said as she glared and Tai Chi took a step back.

"No…actually I'm starting to think that you're part snake with the way you're glaring at me." Tai Chi said as he calmed Chihiro down. Chihiro narrowed her eyes at him and said. "So now I'm supposed to be a cold-blooded reptilian huh?" Tai Chi gulped as he flinched at Chihiro's glare. Before any of the two could say anything more, a shriek exploded near them. They turned to see that Mikan and Hitomi were glaring straight at Yoh.

"Ready to accompany your spirits, boy?" Hitomi said as she cracked her knuckles and Mikan's glare intensified. Yoh started running and a split second later Mikan and Hitomi followed after him. Tai Chi and Chihiro simply watched idly as they disappeared from view.

"Oh right…I was supposed to remind him that he was still a wanted man for Mikan and Hitomi." Chihiro said as she shook her head and laughed at her silliness. Tai Chi looked at her incredulously. "Seriously? You didn't think that that was something worth remembering. Your friend could end up getting killed." Tai Chi said as he looked at Chihiro.

Chihiro thought about it. "Maybe not…I'm sure nothing drastic will happen." Chihiro said happily as she tapped a finger to her lips. That's when she heard a branch fall in the distance and some shouts. Both Tai Chi and Chihiro's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Then again…I guess I have to check it out just in case." she said hurriedly as she took off towards the place where the sound came from.

Tai Chi shook his head and decided to walk off to the breakfast area. It was one more hour and a half till class would start so he was in no rush. After a few minutes of walking, Tai Chi heard some rustling in the bushes. He turned to see that it was Meruka. She was scanning the area and brought her hands up to cup around her mouth as a make-shift megaphone. "Chihiro! Hitomi!" Meruka shouted as she scanned the area but dropped her hands as she saw Tai Chi. Meruka's eyes widened then she quickly turned to go back through the bushes she came out of. Tai Chi quickly ran and pulled her from the bushes before she could escape from him.

"Ok…Could you be more obvious that you don't want to talk to me." Tai Chi said as he pulled her out of the bushes and fixed her to look at him. When he did, Meruka was glaring at him. Boy…was Tai Chi popular with those three girls. All he needed was to get Hitomi ticked off then he would be complete the whole set. 'Yay' Tai Chi thought as he sighed out.

"Why won't you accompany me? I can tell you for a fact that it will be just plain tiresome to stop whatever your friends are doing at the moment." Tai Chi asked Meruka who luckily didn't bother to struggle from his grip on her wrist. He did see her roll her eyes. "No thanks…Might as well get my school supplies which I should take care of because some children can't afford it. Oh what will those poor children do if they found out I wasn't using them right now?" Meruka said as she glared at Tai Chi.

"Oh…so you're going to actually do that huh?" Tai Chi said unfazed by what she said. He simply ran a hand through his hair. "I guess you leave me no choice." He said then quickly picked up Meruka over his shoulder. She screamed in protest and started hitting his back.

"LET ME DOWN!" she said as he continued carrying her. "Actually no…You know that you don't really hang out with anyone except your friends. I, actually talk to you alone only when we do the cleaning. If it wasn't for that then we wouldn't probably be talking right now." Tai Chi said as he walked towards the food area.

"Oh…wow now I'm soooooo very glad that I'm here hanging on your shoulder." Meruka said sarcastically and continued to beat his back. Tai Chi rolled his eyes. "Go ahead bring on the sarcasm. I'm just saying what I observed." He said

Meruka sighed in defeat and stopped pounding on his back. "And your point is?" Meruka said tiredly. "I'm saying that you should hang out with other people. Both Hitomi and Chihiro are okay with hanging out with us. You should try to be friendlier." Tai Chi explained to her.

"And why would you care about this?" Meruka said tiredly. Tai Chi chuckled and told her. "Don't you remember? I told you that I'm going to find out the real you. It will be easier if we can stop you from putting a wall up in front of everyone." Meruka tensed up at what he said.

Meruka smiled a small smile. "You can put me down. I promise I won't run." Meruka said softly. Tai Chi couldn't help but smile at the progress and brought her down. She still wore her tiny smile and shook her head at him. She then proceeded to punch him in the arm. "OW!" Tai Chi said as he rubbed the part she hit him. "What was that for? I thought we were ok?"

"I never said that. I just said that I wasn't going to run from you." She then turned towards the cafeteria area. "Like I said two weeks ago, just give up Tai Chi. It will be useless to try to figure me out." She said and simply started walking slowly towards the area.

Tai Chi shook his head. 'Great…back to square one.' Tai Chi thought as he watched the retreating form of Meruka. Meruka stopped though and turned to him, surprising Tai Chi in the process. "Well? Aren't you coming or what?" she said as she smiled her tiny bit of a smile. Tai Chi's eyes widened and he broke into a big smile.

'I guess not exactly back to square one.' He thought as he hurried to catch up to her.

* * *

Ruka watched as Natsume continued to rub his temples. Ruka also couldn't help but notice the dark eye bags that started to form under eyes. Natsume suddenly stopped his actions and looked up to see that Ruka was carrying a look of worry on his face.

"Honestly Ruka I'm fine." Natsume said as he reached for his fork. "I just had a restless night that's all." Natsume said and proceeded to poke his fork at his food. Before Natsume could put his food in his mouth, he was disturbed by the sound of the people entering the cafeteria.

Natsume looked up to see Mikan being restrained by Chihiro and Hitomi being restrained by Tai Chi. Away from them was Yoh who was panting really hard and Meruka who was simply observing what was happening. Eventually with a lot of dragging and struggling the group made it to the table.

"Honestly…" Tai Chi said while trying to hold down Hitomi. "How long will you hold this grudge? You wasted about 10 minutes of my morning." Ruka and Natsume looked up at the group and gave looks of question. "Well…these struggling idiots here chased Yoh around and not without doing any damage by the way. So anyway, we ended bumping into Tai Chi and Meruka. Tai Chi then helped me restrain Hitomi." Chihiro said tiredly as she still held unto Mikan.

"Sheez women…How many times do I have to say sorry?" Yoh said after catching his breath. "It wasn't that big of an offense." He said while shaking his head. "How about when it becomes the last words you say before you die? I think I can forgive you by then." Hitomi suggested.

Natsume rolled his eyes at the bickering group. He then popped his food in his mouth but he felt a weird feeling that someone was watching him. Natsume then glanced at his side to find one of _them_ watching him. Natsume had suddenly felt that gut feeling, the one where you knew something's up.

He was being called for a mission again. News of a mission isn't something new to him but what was peculiar was how they were calling him this time. They would usually call him in the shadows. That's how _they_ worked after all. It was a work of secrecy. _They _aren't supposed to expose what the dangerous ability class really is. _They _including him are supposed to be completely secret, non-existent. That's what the dangerous ability class must be. However, despite that fact, Natsume somehow found himself looking at one of the members of the dangerous ability class. Natsume didn't know why but Rui was right there, beside the entrance of the cafeteria, out in the open.

Natsume got ready to stand up. Surely, they wanted to talk to him as fast as possible so they decided to risk exposure. It must be some urgent mission. Natsume was on his way up from his seat when to Natsume's surprise Rui started walking towards him. Natsume froze in shock because Rui was going to tell him in front of everyone about the mission. It can't possibly be right. Something must be up.

Ruka was confused with Natsume's expression. It looked like Natsume just saw a ghost and so Ruka followed Natsume's line of vision. Ruka's eyes widened as he realized who the person was. He knew very well that he was one of the members of the dangerous ability class. If he was here, then that means he's coming for Natsume. Ruka flinched inwardly because the idea of Natsume going out for a mission again made his stomach turn. The two boys warily watched as Rui with a glint in his eyes started edging towards them.

Rui wasn't in any attempt trying to hide his presence. As he walked, his shoes clacked on the floor causing each student to glance at the cause of the sound. Whenever each student did that action though, they couldn't help but not continue to stare at him. As he passed by everyone, all the students' mixed noises disappeared as they all silently observed him. By the time he was near their isolated table, the whole cafeteria was quiet and everybody's eyes were on them. The only people who didn't notice the unwelcome visitor were the other people in Natsume's table. Mikan and the others were still minding their own business oblivious to the Rui. To Natsume's surprise though, of all the rest of the group he found that it was only Meruka who was looking at the nearing man and she too was watching his every move carefully.

"I swear I could just strangle you right now!" Mikan shouted out loud as she continued struggling. She was about to say something more when something caught her eye from her peripheral vision. She cautiously looked to her side and stopped her struggling as she finally noticed the guy who had approached them. Mikan's eyes narrowed as she recognized the man from the dangerous ability class. Her heart stalled as she realized that Natsume was about to be sent for another mission. The other three who were confused as to why Mikan stopped were finally able to notice the change of atmosphere. Tension was present throughout the whole cafeteria and the silence finally seeped in completely. Now every single eye in the whole room was trained on Rui as he stopped right beside Mikan and Chihiro.

Natsume glared at Rui and that action didn't go unnoticed by the others in his table. "What the heck are you doing here? Of all places, why do it here?" Natsume asked harshly.

Everyone except Mikan and Ruka were surprised by Natsume's reaction. They wondered how in the world Natsume even knew this person. Everybody's eyes moved back and forth between Natsume and the suspicious man.

"Don't feel so honored kid." Rui said in a voice that just sickeningly flowed. "I didn't come only for you." He said with a chuckle. "I came for the people responsible for the fire."

"We already got our punishment. Why would we need to go?" Natsume asked cautiously after his momentary shock of the news. "Not to mention. Why did they send you of all people?" Natsume said as he clenched his fist.

"I'm not the one in charge boy." Rui said darkly. "It's the principal who is calling. I'm just following orders."

"Why would the principal want us to come to him? We're doing our punishment and no one is skipping or anything." Mikan said icily at Rui. Rui looked at Mikan with critical eyes.

"Who said anything about you?" Rui said and was received with expressions of shock. "The principal just wants the three people who started the fight. That means I'm only here for Natsume and those two guys beside you." Rui said as he looked at Yoh and Tai Chi. "The principal has some urgent news for the three of you. He needs to see you now."


End file.
